CHEF! September 20, 2026 CHEF! Day 8 Iteration 88

How Many Frames Does a Walk Need?

The characters are getting hand-drawn art. The first decision was how many frames a walk takes. Every character drawn afterwards has to use the same number, so it's expensive to change later.
We tested it before drawing anything. The placeholder characters, which the game draws with code, walked on 2, 3, 4 and 5-frame cycles side by side at their real size on screen.
The answer is 2. The characters have no legs, so walking is a bob: the body dips on each step and rises between steps, and two frames show that completely. Swinging arms would have needed 4, and at this size the arms didn't add enough to be worth it.
Two frames means half as many drawings per character as four would.
The measurements couldn't tell us whether a two-frame bob looks like walking or bouncing at 39 pixels tall. The Owner watched it and approved it.
The same comparison seen from the side: [progress/165-shipped-walk-frame-count-comparison-side.gif](progress/165-shipped-walk-frame-count-comparison-side.gif)