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Combat animation standard

Build and review game character attacks so arms, hands and weapons look natural and never break

Source Download skill
Repository
MengTo/Skills
Stars
7,187
Licence
MIT
Files
15 files

What it does

Teaches an AI agent a detailed workflow for making game character combat animations (sword strikes, bow shots, spells, monster attacks) look believable. The agent follows a written set of numbered anatomy rules, runs measurements on the rigged character to catch stretched or twisted arms, and uses blind side-by-side reviews to judge results before shipping. It is built around one specific game project and its tools, so it is most useful as a reference method for people working on similar animation pipelines.

Great for

  • Game developers or animators reworking melee, bow or spell animations in a Unity, Godot or similar pipeline with a skinned rig
  • Teams that want a repeatable checklist and measurement tests for arm and hand plausibility
  • Anyone who wants an agent to review animation frames against written rules

Skip it if

  • Simple animation tasks or non-game work, since the rules and tools are specific to skinned humanoid combat rigs (the files reference a particular project and its paths)
  • Projects that cannot run the bundled Node and Python measuring scripts, because the agent will struggle to follow the measurement steps without them
  • Users expecting a one-click animation generator; the skill guides process and checks rather than producing finished animations

Try asking

  • “Check my sword strike animation for stretched or broken arm frames and tell me which frames break the rules”
  • “Write a numbered animation standard for a new bow draw and shot before I change any keys”
  • “Set up the measuring tools in my game checkout and run the arm-range test on the knight attacks”
  • “Score these two animation sheets blind and tell me which one has better arms and hands”
Step-by-step guide: how to use Combat animation standardInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 15 original files, the MIT licence and an attribution note.

    game-dev-combat-animation.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip game-dev-combat-animation.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip game-dev-combat-animation.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Run scripts/install.sh from inside the game checkout first; it refuses to proceed unless the project is recognized and .dream-loop/ is gitignored
  • Read the referenced project notes and traps file before editing keys, as the skill instructs, to avoid repeating known mistakes
  • Ask the agent to restore a bug temporarily when adding a test, so you can confirm the test actually fails

What's inside

  • references/review.md
  • references/rules.md
  • references/techniques.md
  • references/thornvigil.md
  • references/traps.md
  • scripts/install.sh
  • scripts/tools/ab-pack.py
  • scripts/tools/anchor.mjs
  • scripts/tools/armcheck.mjs
  • scripts/tools/at.mjs
  • scripts/tools/baketime.mjs
  • scripts/tools/drawfit.mjs
  • scripts/tools/face.mjs
  • scripts/tools/host.html
  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from MengTo/Skills under the MIT licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.