Hello I’m Ulfgang Bristall, animator and one of the two developers making Dynasthir. Today I’ll share some of my workflow, design choices, and experience using Cascadeur in this creation process.
Welcome to Dynasthir, an action adventure set in a medievally-inspired, fairytale and old-odd flavoured world, full of both life and death. And you, standing somewhere in between them.
Paradoxical demons roam the land, complex creatures craving to savage existence itself. And its wilderness survives it. People fall prey to its secrets, while others discover them.
Dynasthir is an oldschool experience. A world which gives you the space to get lost and to discover things on your own. Attention to detail is your best friend, and landmarks your only starlight. Just you and thine swordarm, everpersevering. In a world beyond salvation, will thou persist?
Exploring the darker tones of Dynasthir using one of the simpler animations – Lantern Use.
Lets talk animation
The medieval part keeps things grounded, while the fantastical keeps it whimsical. What this creates is an animation artstyle blending both; in familiar yet unique ways.
Cascadeur and everything its team has worked on has been the most wonderful companion to Dynasthir, and to my improvement as a dev and person. Since I’ve started using it in 2019, I’ve brought things to life I never knew possible.
From fantastical beasts,
To wacky actions,
To fantastical beasts doing wacky actions!
Saying it’s been a joy to bring Dynasthir to life is an understatement. And doing it with Cascadeur is absolutely part of this joy! Like a videogame, everything about Cascadeur feels like it is designed with fun as the first part of the process. Auto-blend, Physics, good tutorials, and a genuine intuitiveness to how everything moves make using it a pristine delight.
Let’s talk about things made with it then.
Let’s talk combat!
To achieve a more grounded feel for combat, I went ahead and took longsword classes in real life. References were very rarely used in my workflow. Jumping straight into an animation came with a fire and curiosity exceeding anything else; discovering what the animation becomes along the way. Feeling the movement in your own body creates an intrinsic understanding of the medium, which makes your skills as an animator invaluable. Whatever it is you’re loving to animate, my heart recommends all animators to live it as well.
Let’s break down some of the designs:
Player’s Arsenal
Proud to say Dynasthir sports quite a vast array of movesets to find across its nooks and valleys.
Swords both Straight and Curved, Quarterstaffs, Hammers, and Twinblades just to name a few. Aimed for more exotic choices which are often wanted in games but rarely there. Things we’ve been wanting to swing! And for all my CQC lovers, don’t worry – you can punch your way through Dynasthir. Ya got options!
And these options go deeper, such as seamless combos between Light and Heavy attacks, both in air and on the ground. Due to having no stamina – in addition to enemies parrying your repetitive actions, the design choice was making mashing the same button boring. Animation strings are designed to incentivize mixing up combos. Explore your weapons and find what you love. Become familiar with your armaments and they’ll reward you in kind!
Your other tools are Block, Parry, Kick and Dash. Have fun exploring what they can do!!
I’ve mentioned no stamina. Unlike traditional souls-likes, Dynasthir sports Adrenaline instead of Stamina. Rather than expending energy, you build it. Adrenaline comes and goes based on how well you play, building it up with attacks, dodges, and other actions. Sorta like a tangible style meter. It decays back down pretty fast though so use it or lose it!
What do you use it for then?
Adrenaline Attacks!
Crushing Fang, the starting Adrenaline Skill.
Adrenaline Attacks are skills learned from around the world, be it martial techniques or beastly moves. Every enemy has an adrenaline attack you can learn. How this occurs is up to you to find out. 😀
But! This does mean for a lot of the Adrenaline Attacks, two animations have to be done, of similar enough quality and style.
One example is Sandshark Flare, learned from the aptly named… Sandsharks!
And here’s the player version:
For creatures with differing skeletons this was a necessary decision. And for some humanoids a flavour choice. Making the Adrenaline Skill more fitting to the particularities of how the player character moves and swashbuckles.. Gameplay balance is also considered.
We hope you enjoy all the Adrenaline Skills you find and look forward to using them as solid support to your unique builds!
Bossfights
Naturally in addition to your bread and butter encounters, Bossfights are expectedly existent, and more of a secretive nature to Dynasthir. While not many, finding and fighting them is its own adventure.
Coming down from the Adrenaline high, let’s look at the more relaxing part of animating the world:Idles.
The most fun part of this process was imagination. Figuring out how and why a particular character would idle as they do. A bit of acting goes into it as well, showing emotion through motion. The rest of the process was made effortless by Cascadeur! Just remember to make them breathe.
Cinematics
Cinematics brought about a workflow rarely used in the project, multiple actors. Cascadeur once again shows its brilliance here. Making it easy to set up and maintain animation consistency for both actors.
Behind the Scenes
Cutting Room Floor
As is with any project, some things don’t make it in. This doesn’t mean fun animations weren’t made! Here’s one of my favourite animations which didn’t make the cut.
Don’t worry about things making it into your project or not. Follow your heart! Create for creating’s sake!
Trailer Shenanigans
When working on the launch trailer, the lute playing scene was a particularly fun moment. A lot of thought went into how to best portray the instrument and its uses within the world, leading me once again to pick up a new skill – guitar and learn the basics in order to better understand it. Behind the scenes we used a reference from Riotbard, the man behind the trailer music itself!
What has been like working with Cascadeur
Dynasthir has been in development since 2014, with its release date on November 14, 2025.
Among my other tasks, I’m in charge of combat. Weapon movesets, enemies, the whole shabang. Being the first project, early on we relied on asset packs to get this done. As the creativity increased so did the demand for custom work, and this started to show throughout the whole project, not just combat. Cutscenes were starting to be made, as well as character interactions. So one day, on a whim of inspiration, I woke up. Looked up animation software. Somehow Cascadeur appeared in my way, and I was intrigued. I downloaded it.
It took me 11 and a half hours to make my first animation. And I loved every moment of it. The boundlessness for creativity is immense. It was like playing with toy soldiers again as a kid. But this time, it actually came out into something tangible – for everyone! The excitement was through the roof. We were ecstatic at the new possibilities. And I at making them.
I’ve been using Cascadeur since its Closed Beta phase in 2019. Today, a large amount of the animations in Dynasthir are completely custom. And what used to be assets are polished, flavoured and touched up in some way or another.
I’m still loving every moment of creating in the medium. Me and Cascadeur have grown up together. And we’ve brought so many moments, creatures, and personality to life during these years. I firmly believe that this would not have happened with any other software. The intuitive aspects, the clean UI, the constant updates – as well as their amazing discord server getting me out of a few animation conundrums. It is filled with creative people, equally excited to work on what they love!
What’s it been like working with Cascadeur? Well. It’s been one of the pillars of my life.
I’ve acquired many skillsets working on Dynasthir. And I am so proud, and grateful, to have Cascadeur among these. Look forward to seeing what we make in the future!
Thank you Cascadeur Team!
And thank you, dear reader!! Wish you a most fortuitous time making animations. See you in Dynasthir!
You can visit Dynasthir’s Steampage and play it here!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2145210/Dynasthir
