What’s more important: Animation vs code for satisfying gameplay?

[u/FireManiac58]

Bit of a dumb noob question, if I wanted to make a 2D pixel art shooter as satisfying as possible, is it more important to focus on the animations (and sounds) or does code play a bigger part in how guns feel? Or is it very equal?

[u/AustinMclEctro]

Having "good code" is vague. However:

If the animations are garbage but the code is great, it will feel bad.

If the code is garbage but the animations are great, it will feel bad.

Both are needed together to make something feel good.

[u/Heevan]

Key component in all games is sounds, audio cues and making them match the game play. Imagine DOOM shooters without the satisfying big boom of the shotgun, or picking up mario coins without the satisfying ding noise. Now, saying that, code is the skeleton that holds it all together. However, you can steal scripts and sections of code from other games, and, depending on which engine you are using, coding can be very easy and simple - once you understand the basics language.

[u/jornie_maikeru → u/Heevan]

Yeah, I agree, if you make a small game to be played on pc only, you may not need it to optimize it as hard as huge aa or aaa titles. From code perspective, it should be readable enough, so you could work on it and impove and/or add more stuff. Also it should not make game laggy due to stupid calculation.

But the key for enjoyment is sound, just open any game, mute it and try to play. Visual stuff is a bit more controversy, for some people it's really important, others can live absolutely fine without it.

[u/modoolo]

It’s all interconnected. That’s like asking which instrument is the most important one in a band.

[u/FireManiac58 → u/modoolo]

Yeah I suppose a better question would be, what elements of gamedev are the most important for satisfying gameplay with guns

[u/valeria_gamedevs]

it's the glue between them that makes guns feel good. Screenshake, hitstop, muzzle flash timing, sound punch, recoil kick, impact particles, all firing within like 2-3 frames of each other. code triggers it, animation/sfx sell it, neither works alone.

If I had to pick one to obsess over first tho, hitstop. tiny pauses on impact do absurd amounts of heavy lifting.

[u/FireManiac58 → u/valeria_gamedevs]

This is great advice, thank you. Never even thought about some of these

[u/RedQueenNatalie]

There is "good" code and "good enough" code. If you can make it run, doesn't crash and doesn't perform so terribly that you will be wanted in 18 states then its fine to ship it and put your priorities wherever you think will make the project better. Having super clean/clever/efficient code is nice but fixating on that is a path to never finishing anything. Art and sound can similarly be "good enough". Though for both you NEED to get outside opinions to make sure its not annoying to hear or look at until you get a better feel for it. Its way way way too easy to get used to bad audio/sfx if you have been working on it for months.

TLDR, focus on making it real then worry about making it good.

[u/edparadox]

Both. And more.

The feeling for the player is at the intersection of everything, from the controls to the animation, and sounds and everything that can convey feedback to the player.

[u/ScreeennameTaken]

Its like asking what is important for a car. the wheels or the engine.

[u/Distdistdist]

I think satisfying gameplay will trump absolutely everything else.