NEW VIDEO: "The Best Game Animation of 2023" (and also updates)! (Patreon)

It took much longer than I hoped, but I've finally finished the annual roundup of great game animation for 2023 and I'm quite proud of it. I hope you enjoy, and maybe also learn about a neat game or two that escaped your notice last year!

But hey, while we're here, it's been a while since I gave a general update on things! Let's see...

Good News, Bad News

The biggest reason this video didn't arrive sooner was some unfortunate day job chaos.

As you're almost certainly aware by now, it's been a brutal year-and-a-half for the game industry. Investors have been pulling funding, projects are getting canceled left and right, and thousands of devs have been laid off. My employer had to do several rounds of layoffs over the course of 2023 and, unfortunately, I was included in one of those later rounds, which has made the last couple months pretty turbulent.

Layoffs always suck to go through, but losing this particular job is an added bummer because it means losing that 4-day workweek AND having to find a new Canadian employer pretty quickly in order to continue legally residing here. Honestly, I'm dying to just go full time making videos like these at this point, but I can't legally do so living here without a visa that grants me permanent Canadian residency, and getting that could take a while. So, alas, it looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer.

But, on the plus side, being between jobs right now does give me some time to focus on videos in the short term, so I'm hoping to make the most of this opportunity!

What's the Next Video?

Good question! I've got several video ideas I'm ready to jump on, but I can't decide which to do first.

There is, of course, the ongoing Animation of Final Fantasy series, which is just about to touch on some of the most popular entries in the franchise. Those are easily some of the most time-consuming videos to research and produce, but Final Fantasy VI through Final Fantasy X is going to be an amazing stretch to cover.

Alternatively, we could go back to that 12 Principles of Animation in Games series, which still has quite a few entries left to cover. I believe Arcs is the next principle on the list?

But then I've also got some other one-off topic ideas I've been considering, two of which I mentioned in passing in the 2023 video. I could make a video talking more about the Dialog Animation in Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur's Gate III. Or I could go into more detail about some of the shortcomings in the cinematic animation of recent Zelda games, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Or I could make an Animator Q&A video answering some questions about game animation from patrons? Or heck, I could just do a shorter video going on a rant about why reusing animations and assets in games is Good, Actually.

Lots of good options, but I can't decide which to work on  first. So I may just leave that choice to you!

Later today, I'm going to post a poll listing the possible topics for the next video and let you folks choose which happens first. I look forward to seeing which you pick!

Thanks!

I am very grateful for y'all's support, especially in turbulent times like these. These videos continue to be a source of creative joy for me, and I'm very happy seeing folks enjoy watching them as much as I enjoy making them. <3