Fall (four legs)

The fall of the game cycles for four legs: all four legs spread and paddle, the ears pin back and the tail whips, looping every 0.6 seconds for as long as a game has the character falling through the air.

A cartoon person and a dog floating above the grass, legs spread and paddling, ears pinned back.

Use it in a cartoonOpen it in the block editorThe pack file (JSON)

What it is for

Fall (four legs) is the fall of the nine game cycles, written for the fours set: the legs spread and paddling, the ears and tail up, rather than the upright set's arms-and-legs kick. It loops every 0.6 seconds for as long as the fall lasts, for as long as a game needs it.

The principle it shows: overlapping action

The back legs and the front legs each paddle on their own 0.6-second cycle, each pair opposite itself, while the tail whips at exactly twice that speed. Several limbs on slightly different rhythms, rather than one shared timing for the whole body, is what keeps the fall from reading as a single stiff flail.

The program, line by line

settings: h = 540, leg = 0.33
when it starts
  show the side view
  look scared
  set back left leg -18, back left shin 20, back left foot 0, back right leg -18, back right shin 20, back right foot 0, front left leg 26, front left shin 16, front left foot 0, front right leg 26, front right shin 16, front right foot 0, dy (-0.03*h), head 8, tail 30, ears -10, mouth 0.3
  sin wave on back left leg · every 0.6 s · amp 10
  sin wave on back right leg · every 0.6 s · amp 10 · phase 3.141592653589793
  sin wave on front left leg · every 0.6 s · amp 10
  sin wave on front right leg · every 0.6 s · amp 10 · phase 3.141592653589793
  sin wave on tail · every 0.3 s · amp 12

Try this

  1. Whip the tail every 0.15 seconds instead of 0.3. The fall reads as far more frantic, as if the character only just started falling.

    In the program: wave · every 0.3 → 0.15

  2. Pin the ears back 25 degrees instead of 10. The character's whole posture reads as far more alarmed as it falls.

    In the program: set · to.part:ear -10 → -25

How it differs from Jump (four legs, in place) and Fall

Jump (four legs, in place) has its own brief fall phase built into a fixed arc toward a landing; this Fall is the open-ended loop a game reaches for once the drop's length is not yet known. Fall is the same idea for the upright set, kicking with two legs rather than paddling with four.

Works on

Worked out by the build: it plays the move in the engine on each body and checks what moves on screen. Nobody types this table.
BodyMoves?What moves
2 legs (a person)yeswhole body, turns, head
4 legs (a dog)yeswhole body, head, front legs, back legs, tail
no legs (the monster with no legs)yeswhole body, turns, tail, ears

c4c:beh:cycle_fall_fours · version 1.0.0 · c4c-free · by Jabbertoon