Reanimator Animation Trees

tl;dr game sends state data to animation controller. Controller consults a graph of nodes to decided which node or frame to play next. Nodes are allowed to modify some internal state to facilitate transitions between states.

Gameplay code presents stateful data to the animation machine. State information contains information liks "is flying," or "is falling," or "is on stabld ground."

A decision graph routes from the root to what animation should be playing given the current status of state variables.

Nodes ultimately decide which cel/frame of animation is going to be played next.

Nodes are allowed to modify internal state as well. This is intended to help transitional nodes make reasonable decisions--a falling animation should react to a ground collision with an animation acknowledging the landing, *then* transitioning to an idle or a desired movement action.