Let's Make Character Animations Easy!

I'm going to be upfront and say that I do not like using the move route when making character animations. There are luckily scripts out there to bypass this (Galv's move route extras is a must-have for those who like using scripts), but this tutorial is for those who hate using scripts or just want to have a bit of practice on other ways to make animations.

For this tutorial, I will be using the animated volcano made by Charlesthehurst. Make sure you put a $ before the name.

The Stepping Animation

This one is very simple. All you need to do is in the options menu, change it to stepping animation.
i.imgur.com/jXzpxnV.jpg


You can also choose the stepping animation in the autonomous movement section as well.

i.imgur.com/fzlbKPL.jpg

Then you should be able the click the Move Route... button under the drop down menu.
In there, click stepping animation on and repeat action.
i.imgur.com/93bbFes.jpg

You can also click Skip if cannot move, which will just ignore the action if it cannot be performed. This will keep the game from freezing typically.

Self Switch Method

Sometimes you can't use the stepping animation. This method gives a little more control and you can change the speed of the animation, but it also means doing a little more work if you have an object you want to interact with. There are a few ways to go about this, but I will keep it simple and use the two easiest methods.

On the first event page, pick the first animation frame. Next, you need to have it set for a parallel process. I then chose wait 5 frames. This makes it a little faster than the stepping method, but it isn't too fast. You can change it to what you like. Then, have it say self switch A is on.

i.imgur.com/JnXjTBn.jpg

The next event page, in the conditions, make sure that self switch A is on. This event page will look just like the first one with the next animation frame. This time however, you will have Self Switch A = off and Self Switch B = on.

i.imgur.com/cMMrTLN.jpg

The third event page will have the final animation frame and Self Switch B = off.

i.imgur.com/k1bHLCS.jpg

Now we have our animated volcano up and running!

To make it so we can interact with it, there are two methods I am going to show. The first one is very simple. Just make an event and have it set to below characters and the trigger be action button. Put it right next to the animation.

i.imgur.com/0V9rd5u.jpg
i.imgur.com/NRxvukd.jpg

The second method is to use the event location.

First make the event we made above and have the trigger be same as characters.
Then, make another event anywhere on the map. Set that to autorun.
Go to tab 2 of the event commands and click on Event Location.
i.imgur.com/a9mA3tl.jpg

Change the destination to be right on top of the animated character.
i.imgur.com/luXzuT5.jpg

Now, click okay and when you're back to your event page, make a self switch A = on. Then make a new event page where the condition has Self switch A is on. This is just so the autorun stops.


Variable Animation Method

The self switch method is my favorite personally, but there are times that we have more animations than self switches. In order to solve this, we will use the variable animation method. This will be set up just like the self switch method, but instead, you will use a variable. This is how it should look:
i.imgur.com/9q1CaAY.jpg
i.imgur.com/vXVJFan.jpg
i.imgur.com/6RiPKe9.jpg

As a reminder, make sure you set the variable back to 0 on the last frame.
With this method, you will be able to have as many animation frames as you'd like. The downside is that it uses up a variable spot for each event animation on the map.

And that is my small and easy tutorial on different ways to make character animations.

i.imgur.com/x4VXHc6.jpg