This is an excerpt from the full tutorial on the Makko AI blog. The original includes the complete video walkthrough, comparison table, and animation build checklist.
A character that looks good but cannot move is a prop, not a player. The visual design defines how a character looks. The animations define what it can do. And what a character needs to do depends entirely on the game it lives in.
A character in a horror platformer needs punchy, responsive animations: a run that feels fast, a jump that has weight, an idle stance that communicates readiness. The same character in a visual novel needs something completely different: a walk that reads as deliberate, a gesture that communicates emotion, a forward-facing pose that holds up during extended dialogue sequences.
These are not small differences in animation style. They are different behavioral layers built for different genres.
This guide walks through how to build genre-specific movesets in Makko's Art Studio using a single base character deployed across two completely different games: a horror platformer and a visual novel.
The core principle: one character, two behavioral profiles
All animations are created on the same base character. The separation between games happens at the manifest level. Each game gets its own manifest containing only the animations it needs. This keeps each build clean and prevents one game's assets from contaminating another's.
The principle is asset hygiene: create all animations once on the base character, then attach them selectively to the game profiles that require them.
Building the horror platformer moveset
Open the base character's details page in Art Studio. Click Create Animation. Every animation follows the same four-step sequence: name it, describe it, generate it, clean it.
The Running Jump. For the prompt:
side view, running into a running jump
The side view instruction is critical for all platformer animations. The character moves left and right in the game world, so the camera perspective must match. After generation, extract the frames and open the frame editor. The raw animation will include frames at the start and end that do not belong in the loop: standing frames, landing recovery, transition poses. For the running jump, approximately 35 frames were removed to isolate the 6 that captured the exact movement needed. Trim until the loop feels right, exit the frame editor, and bake a new sprite sheet. Name it with no spaces. RunningJump works cleanly.
The Run. For the prompt:
side view, running forward with the right arm extended straight in front of the character at all times
The extended arm matters because this character carries a weapon throughout the game. A generic run without the arm position looks wrong in context. This is the distinction between a generic animation and a genre-specific one: the prompt reflects actual gameplay context, not just abstract motion.
A good run loop for a platformer is seamless. You cannot tell where it starts and ends when it plays. Test it repeatedly. If there is a stutter at any point, find that frame and remove it. Clean the loop until it plays without a visible seam.
The Idle and Shooter Stance. Follow the same pattern for the remaining two platformer animations. Create each one, name and describe it clearly, generate, extract frames, clean the loop, bake the sprite sheet. If a generated animation does not match what you were looking for, adjust the prompt and regenerate. Animations that do not work for their intended purpose may still be useful for a different action in this game or a future project.
Building the visual novel moveset
The workflow is identical but the requirements diverge in one critical way: perspective.
In a platformer, the character always faces left or right and every animation uses a side view. In a visual novel, characters face directly toward the player during dialogue. Two of the three visual novel animations are forward-facing. One uses a side view.
This means your prompts need to explicitly specify orientation for every animation. Do not assume the AI will default to the right perspective. State it directly in every prompt.
Walking Forward. Forward-facing. Describe the walk as deliberate and unhurried. Visual novel pacing is slower and more expressive than platformer movement.
Talking and Gesturing. Also forward-facing. This animation plays most frequently during dialogue, so it needs to feel natural and hold up under repeated viewing. Describe the specific gesture you want: hands open and expressive, a head tilt, a hand raise. The more specific the prompt, the more intentional the result.
Walking Sideways. Side view, matching the platformer convention. The pace should still be slower than the platformer's run. Match the tone of the genre.
Building game-specific manifests
With all seven animations baked, the final step is building the manifests. This is where the separation between games actually happens.
For the horror platformer: create a manifest named GrandmaElaraHorrorPlatformer, select only the four platformer sprite sheets, click Create Manifest.
For the visual novel: create a second manifest named GrandmaElaraVisualNovel, select only the three visual novel sprite sheets.
Two manifests. Seven animations. Zero overlap between game builds.
When these manifests are pulled into AI Studio via the Asset Library, the agentic AI reads each one as the complete behavioral definition for that character in that game: what animations exist, what states they represent, and how to wire them to the game logic. The manifest is the bridge between the art pipeline and the game logic layer.
Animation build checklist
- Open the base character in Art Studio. Do not create a new character per game.
- Plan your animation list per game before generating. Know which animations each game needs and what perspective each requires.
- Name every animation clearly before generating. The name carries through to the sprite sheet and manifest.
- Include perspective in every prompt. "Side view" or "facing forward" must appear explicitly.
- Extract frames and clean every animation before baking.
- Bake one sprite sheet per animation. No spaces in the name.
- Build a separate manifest per game. Select only what that game requires.
- Keep animations that do not work for their intended purpose. They may be useful elsewhere.
Full tutorial with video walkthrough, comparison table, and more: blog.makko.ai
Built with Makko AI — AI-native game creation, no coding required.
