2D Spine animation for Alyonka's Stories, a merge-2 game by Nashi Igry

The genie, the sultan, the diver Inga and the TV reporter appear in the story scenes, so each of them needed a calm idle and a set of reactions that can play between lines of dialogue. The sultan is animated sitting cross-legged, the genie floats on a smoke tail instead of legs, and the reporter keeps a microphone in hand through every pose.

The art was drawn by the client's team, so all the motion is built on their finished drawings, without redrawing them. The same approach works for any 2D character design that has to move later.

In dialogues the characters speak from round portrait frames, so the goat kid, the bearded man in glasses and the old shaman got emotion sets: smiles, a wink, a squint, a frown, a thoughtful hand to the chin.

Most of the acting here is in the eyes, brows and mouth, while the frame and shoulders stay almost still, so the avatar stays readable at a small size on a phone screen.

A merge-2 game is played across zones that the player restores and decorates, and the decor is what makes a restored zone feel finished. We animated it zone by zone: a fountain with lanterns and incense smoke, a gazebo with a smoking chimney, a tent, a buggy on a sand dune, a bookcase with potions and a safe, a mine cart on rails, a crooked house under a thunder cloud and a magic circle of candles.

Decor loops play in the background, so they are short, quiet and seamless: smoke, flicker, sway and the odd small event instead of big motion that would pull attention from the merge board. The same approach runs through all our 2D animation services.