The running-and-firing animation had a visible problem: the top half of a survivor and the legs did not always look like they belonged to the same body. A second problem appeared when aiming changed—the character could suddenly look bigger.
Keep the body together
The fix replaces the combined upper- and lower-body drawing with complete running poses. Each character has five aiming directions and four gait frames for every direction. Every pose comes from native ImageGen artwork, including the character’s clothing, hands, weapon, legs, and feet.
Gruge keeps his black jacket and cargo trousers. Vicki keeps her red mini dress and black high heels. The new poses preserve those identities while giving both survivors a complete silhouette as they move and fire.
Measure the person, not the picture
A sprite with a raised rifle has a taller picture than one with a level rifle. Scaling both pictures by their outer height makes the person change size. The new calibration measures from the character’s head to the supporting shoe, using the ordinary running animation as the reference.
That reference follows the gait. An extended stride and a gathered stride can have different silhouettes, but aiming up or down no longer changes the body’s height within that stride. The standing and crouching aim poses are also registered against the ordinary versions of those poses. Vicki remains smaller than Gruge.
Make the shot belong to the gun
Each pose has a marked muzzle and a supporting-foot anchor. The bullet, muzzle flash, lighting, and shadow use the selected frame’s registration. Mirroring a survivor changes the firing direction without moving the shot away from the barrel.
The controls also keep a clear distinction: hold Down by itself to duck and fire. Add deliberate left or right movement for an upright diagonal shot. Independent aiming can face the opposite direction while the survivor keeps moving. The same behavior applies to Gruge, Vicki, and both local co-op slots.
These changes are part of the current developer build. The goal is straightforward: the animation should show the action clearly, without changing the person doing it.