I am looking for a program as well as advice on a 2d game I am making. It is a side scrolling platformer. Basically I have a programmer who is currently making me an engine and I have an artist who can draw all the stuff I need. The problem is we dont know much about animation. The game is all going to be hand drawn (similar to Muramasa or A Boy and His Blob for the wii). The game will be for PC at first and I would like it to support up resolutions up to 1920X1080. Here comes my question... What program would be best for creating the 2d animations in? And are there any tutorials you guys would suggest for them? I will be releasing this on XBOX Live and possibly Wiiware in the future as well, so everything needs to be compatible with those platforms as well as the PC. Any advice on this would be great! Thanks! [Edited by - Sephiro88 on January 27, 2010 1:05:27 AM]

2D animation is traditionally Frame By Frame, much like a flip book with various pictures in different states of motion. For games, the actual "animating" would be implemented by the programmer who would use a SpriteSheet and setup the order the frames are displayed and at what rate.

As for programs, there are a number that can help you make animated Gif's or allow you to more easily preview and make your animations, such as Graphics Gale, Microsoft Gif Animator, or AVI Creator, among others. You may also find This and This tutorial to be of some use.

I'd tryout pro motion 6 also. It has many similarities with deluxe paint on the Amiga.

Thanks a ton for the quick response and the help. I will look into those.

Hi,
you could try Tile studio.
http://tilestudio.sourceforge.net/