Teaching The Mascot To Wave

The little mascot on the home page has always just stood there mid-party, arms out, looking cheerful in a completely static sort of way, and it always bothered me slightly that he never actually did anything. I wanted him to wave, nothing elaborate, just enough small motion to make the front door of the club feel like someone was genuinely glad you had turned up, rather than a cardboard cutout propped by the entrance.

It turns out a convincing wave is mostly about how the wrist moves rather than the whole arm swinging around. My first attempt moved the entire limb like a slow pendulum, which read as faintly unsettling rather than friendly, more like a figure in a fairground ride than a host greeting a guest. Slowing the wrist right down and keeping the shoulder almost completely still made an enormous difference to how natural the whole gesture ended up looking.

I also had to make sure the animation only plays once per visit rather than looping endlessly in the background, because a mascot that never stops waving very quickly stops being charming and starts being slightly desperate, like someone who will not let a greeting end. Now he waves once, settles back into his usual cheerful stance, and gets on with the business of standing there looking pleased with the whole party going on around him.

Small as this change is, it is exactly the kind of thing I enjoy working on most of all. Nobody actually asked for it, it does not affect a single game on the floor, and it will not change anyone's point total by so much as one confetti piece, but it makes the place feel a little warmer to walk into, and that alone felt like a good enough reason to spend an evening getting a wrist animation right.