Squashing and stretching is one of the most important principles of animation and it is what gives weight and volume to a character or object. It is also useful in animating dialogue and facial expressions.
A bad example of this can be found in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. There are certain places in the game that the character can play basketball, and typically the ball would squash and flatten as it hits the ground and stretch. However, it doesn't happen in this game.
2. Anticipation.
This movement prepares the audience for a major action the character is about to perform, such as starting to run, jump or attack. The body does not simply swing straight into the action, but normally does a counteraction before the action. For instance, to swing a blade the character would first recoil and then swing. When jumping, the character would first bend his legs and then jump.
A good example of this is in Mark of the Ninja. A lot of the animation shows fluid recoil before an action - the character will draw his sword fully back before attacking his opponents and his body will rock back before thrusting fowards as he does so. Additionally, his legs appropriately bend before springing out to launch him into the air.
A bad example of this can be found in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. When the character jumps, he instantly launches into the air and only in the air does his body contract. But the character does not bend their legs first. This same thing is actually found in many games and seems to be somewhat of a struggle to get right for most games, most likely because players want an instant reaction.
3. Staging.
A pose or action should clearly communicate with the audience the attitude, mood, reaction or idea of the character in relation to the narrative and continuity of the storyline. This is basically the use of camera position and angle in relation to the action to convey the appropriate response (such as a close-up to convey emotions). Every frame must relate to the overall story.
A good example of this can be found in Alan Wake. The game is created to look kind of like a TV series and it s hows very well in the camera angles. It mixes everything between extreme close ups to establishing shots to create the effect of a mix of brilliant, calm scenery and a dark atmosphere. One such shot is of the camera flying through the mountains during a sunset, showing the audience the kind of area the place is in, a normally calm and peaceful place. Another shot is a point where Alan falls down a cliff and into the river far below. The shot is an extreme long shot. As it's night, everything is dark and eerie yet still visible and the only indication of where Alan is is through a flare that he's holding. Because of this, you can see the height of his drop and a sense of the peril below.
4. Straight ahead and pose to pose animation.
Straight ahead animation is where each frame is drawn from the start to the end of the sequence, where as pose to pose is where the key points of the sequence are drawn and then the gaps are filled in with additional frames. Straight ahead animation has the risk of losing the volume and proportions of the character, but it does have spontaneity and freshness. As such, this method is normally used for fast action sequences. Pose to pose is more planned out and reduces the risk of loss of proportion and volume.
5. Follow through and overlapping action.
Follow through is where parts of the character continue to travel despite the fact that the main body has stopped (such as loose clothing, arms, legs, head etc.). Overlapping is similar, only instead of stopping, it's when the character changes direction and the clothes react by continuing in the previous direction before switching.
One good example is in Trine 2. The wizard and the thief's clothing have long tails and hence swish about around their feet. The clothes react very well to when the character starts, stops and changes direction as the motion is seemless and fluid and doesn't seem to pass through the character which does sometimes happen.
6. Slow-in and Slow-out
Following the theme of working in towards the final action, a slow-in and slow-out determines the speed of an action. Normally when you move, you start slow and pick up the pace. This is easiest to show in walking, as you build up to the speed rather than moving straight to walking speed. And as you stop, you ease into it rather than stopping dead.
A bad example can be found in Two Worlds. When the player starts walking, he instantly starts, and the same with stopping. Although it does have an accurate start motion, it doesn't ease into it and goes straight to running. When the player stops walking it instantly stops the character dead.
7. Arcs.
Whenever a part of the body moves, it moves on a turning point like a pendulum. Each body part makes an arc when it moves. Almost every game does this and it's very difficult to find a poor example. A good example, however, would be games that include swords (for this, I'll use Zero from Borderlands 2). As Zero swings his sword, you can see a very clear pendulum motion with his body and arms as he performs an upward strike.
8. Secondary Action.
A secondary action is gestures and the like that help to enhance the effect of the main action. Take for example an angry character. His walk would be aggressive and harsh, his feet stomping on the ground. An addition to that would be arms that swing more harshly with clenched fists. His body would tilt forwards and his head would be lowered. The secondary actions should support the purpose of the primary action.
9. Timing.
Timing is how fast the action is. It helps to establish physical things such as weight, velocity and force. Generally, the faster the action, the less frame it takes. It can also help to express emotions. A sad character might move slower than normal, or a scared character might be quick and twitchy with sharp reactions.
10. Exaggeration
It's not necessarily meaning that everything must be over-the-top through extreme distortion and broadness, but more to make it look more natural. The same applies to facial animation. Although in the real world, normal facial movement looks normal, in animation it can look stiff and mechanic, which is one reason why facial capture could become a bad thing. In animation, the movement must be more pronounced to look more natural.
A good example of this is in L.A. Noire. Using motion capture, the developers managed to accurately recreate every movement of the face for use in their game, so that the player can look out to see if the person is lying. As mentioned before, the capture might not always be a good thing, so the actors would have exaggerated their movements so that it would look more real when it's put into the game and so that the player could look for the clues without too much hassle. Through this exaggeration, the game has created some of the most accurate facial animations in gaming to date.
11. Solid drawing.
This is basically applying academic drawing to animation. You take in the three dimensions of the human body and apply it to the animation.
12. Appeal
Like a performer has to have charisma, a character has to have appeal. To create appeal, it needs to have an easy to read design, clear drawing and personality development that will capture and involve the audience's interest. The character not only needs to look good, but also have a strong personality.
One good example is Sgt. Johnson from the Halo series. He has a dominant and easily recognisable design which fits in well into his role. His personality is the motivational yet comical kind and is most memorable for his quirky, inspiring and amusing quotes.
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