Animating Guilty Gear-Inspired Fighting Game Combo In Maya

Introduction

Hi, my name is Minh, and I go by Animinhtion as my animator name, just a silly pun I came up with. Even though I wasn't great at drawing, I always knew I wanted to work in a creative field growing up. During university, I taught myself puppet animation in After Effects and worked in 2D for about five years. Over time, I started to feel limited and wanted to push further, which led me to intern at a 3D studio and transition into 3D animation.

When it comes to building my skills, I think the most important things are observation and consistent practice. I watch a lot of game cutscenes, anime, and animated shorts, and I also pay close attention to real-life movement and behavior, which helps a lot when it comes to finding references. For practice, I usually pick character rigs I really like and animate them, since that helps me stay motivated rather than forcing myself to practice.

I left my previous studio last year, and since then, aside from a few small commissions, I've mainly been focusing on improving my skills and working on personal projects to get my work out there and reach a wider audience.

Inspiration

I've always been a fan of Arc System Works and their games, especially Guilty Gear Strive, a style and level I've always wanted to reach. Back in 2024, I came across an FG combo shot by MrMusta, and it really inspired me to try making my own combo animation.

I put the idea on hold because I didn't feel like my skills were there yet until recently, when my Discord animation server hosted a Move Back Cycle event. I made a FG style backwalk animation for it, which felt like the perfect chance to revisit this idea. I wanted to experiment with low frame rates and stepped animation, while also testing my character posing. It was mostly about seeing if I could actually pull off the ideas I had in my head.

I worked with a wide range of references. For the attacks, I mainly looked at Guilty Gear Strive, using both unarmed and weapon-based moves. For the super move, I had always wanted to animate a beam attack fired from two fists brought together, inspired by Incineration Cannon (Genos from One Punch Man) and Max Grid Beam (SSSS.Gridman). I also studied beam attack layouts from Dragon Ball FighterZ and Marvel vs. Capcom 1998 to help shape the composition. Finally, I drew inspiration from the signature poses of Kamen Rider for the character's movement, aiming to capture the same sense of resolute, strong, and impactful energy.

Workflow

I picked individual attacks from different characters and combined them into a single sequence, then adjusted the timing and added hit stops to make the combo feel more believable. Since I was aiming for a stepped animation approach, I focused on strong key poses and clear silhouettes. Without smears, the motion can feel a bit stiff at times, but the added FX and secondary animation from the scarf helped soften the transitions and keep the movement from feeling too rigid.

Talking about weight, holding the anticipation poses slightly longer for heavier attacks helped sell the impact. Because the character is more upper-body heavy, I also added delayed follow-through when referencing the motion, which helped reinforce a stronger sense of weight. Still, I don't think I fully nailed the feeling of heavy gauntlets being under control enough.

One of the biggest time-saving tricks for me was using Studio Library. I was able to save and reuse finger poses, mouth poses, and even parts of the scarf animation. Since the animation was fully stepped, I didn't need to spend time polishing and could focus entirely on creating strong, appealing key poses, which is something I really enjoy.

The most complicated part was making the animation feel like a classic 2D fighting game, instead of modern character locomotion. The character slides a lot during movement, and intentionally designing that kind of motion was honestly pretty tricky. Hit stops were another challenge. I didn't plan on having a practice dummy at first, but the animation felt a bit empty without it, so I added one and had to tweak the timing a lot to make the hit stops feel right.

VFX

Effects like speed lines, rim light, and impact frames were created by me in After Effects. Most of the attack moves, sparks, and smokes came from 2D FX packs I purchased a few years ago, while the beam super move was based on an online green-screen effect. All of the VFX were time-remapped and adjusted to match the animation's hit stops.

Conclusion

It's a bit hard to track the exact amount of time since I worked on this project alongside commissions, but if I had to give a rough estimate, I'd say around 70 hours, including post-editing.

The biggest challenge wasn't technical, but my own patience, especially near the end of the project. This is something I've struggled with in many of my previous projects as well. As things get close to being finished, I tend to get impatient and just want to wrap everything up quickly. I almost dropped the scarf animation and skipped adding VFX altogether. But this time, I slowed down and took my time refining the piece, especially since it's one of the projects I care most about.

There's a quote by Gabe Newell that always reminds me to be more patient and not rush things at the end: "Late is just for a little while. Suck is forever."

To all beginning artists, focus on learning the fundamentals and try not to compare yourself to others. There will always be countless talented people who started earlier and move faster than you. Everyone has their own path, and you’re the only one who can create what’s uniquely yours. Loving something doesn't mean you're good at it. Loving it is what helps you push through when things get tough. So enjoy the process; if you're willing to practice, you can do it.

Minh Nguyen, 3D Animator

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine