Spine Character Dolls

Characters can use Spine skeletal animations instead of (or alongside) static layered images. Both animation playback and skin selection are driven by skin layers of type: spine — the same authoring pipeline you already use for static image layers, with animation names and skin names instead of image paths.

Setting Up

In the engine editor, open a character template and fill in the Spine section:

• Atlas – the .atlas file
• Skeleton – the .json or .skel skeleton file

You can declare more than one entry — one per view (default, back, etc.). Each entry has its own art_dx, art_dy, art_scale so each rig can be framed independently.

When a character has a spine configured for the current view, the engine renders the spine animation instead of static image layers (unless a static layer for the same view is also active — see "Static Action Overlays" below).

Spine Skin Layers

Spine animations and skins are picked the same way static images are picked for layered characters — via skin layers that watch one or more character attributes and resolve to a value per attribute combination. The only difference is what the value is: a static layer maps each combo to an image file, while a spine layer maps each combo to an animation name (in spine_animations) or a skin name (in spine_skins). For more information on character attributes and skins read Overview

A spine-type skin layer can drive an animation, a skin, or both — they're two facets of the same layer. The editor generates the per-attribute fields for you; just fill in the dropdowns and string fields.

Note: if your character animation is not playing, make sure you've filled in both attributes and skin_layers properties for that character template in the editor.

Static Action Overlays

A spine-rendered view can be temporarily replaced by a static image. If you define a static layer that matches the same view (e.g. an attack layer keyed by a battle_state attribute), the engine hides the spine while the static frame is showing — typically used for hand-drawn action frames during attacks, hits, and casts. When the action ends and the attribute returns to idle, the spine resumes.

Worked example: Ane's back view has both a back spine and a ane_back static layer with images for attack, cast, hit. While battle_state=idle, the back spine plays. When she's hit, battle_state=hit activates the ane_back_hit.webp frame and the spine is hidden until the action ends.

API

Spine animations and skins follow character attributes. Set an attribute, the engine resolves the new animation / skin name from the matching layer and crossfades to it.

const mc = game.getCharacter('mc');

// belly layer resolves to 'belly_2'
mc.setAttribute('outfit', 'cute_dress');

// face layer resolves to 'face_ahegao'
mc.setAttribute('expression', 'angry');

There's no manual "play this animation" or "apply this skin" API — everything flows through skin layers + attributes.