Interview with Alex Maniotis : Animation begins in the engine
- Vanessa
- 6 days ago
- 13 min read
Locomotion comes with its share of challenges, especially when it comes to integrating turns cleanly. On one side, the 180 turns that reorient the character; on the other, banking, that subtle visual layer that brings natural motion to the cycles and strengthens the sense of control.
This month, Animotion focuses on these animations that are essential to player feel. And to explore this topic, I chose an animator whose background connects animation, mocap, and in‑engine work directly: Alex Maniotis.
His experience across very different projects gives him a sharp understanding of how a character moves, turns, and reacts. In this interview, Alex looks back on his journey, his influences, and his approach to these animations where everything happens in just a few frames…
With over fifteen years of experience across both studio and freelance work, you’ve explored many areas of animation. What were the key steps in your journey, and how did you come to focus on in‑engine workflows, especially in Unreal?
I’ve been a gamer since 1993, but my journey truly began in 1996 when I played Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Those two titles shaped not only the gamer in me, but also the future game developer. It always felt like this was the path I was meant to follow.
After finishing school, I decided to study at AKTO College, a sub-department of Middlesex University. I loved it so much that I worked extremely hard to support my studies, alongside my parents.
During the day I was studying, and at the same time I worked as a metalworker for a year and as a bartender for another. I was completely focused on becoming a game developer, and I couldn’t let financial struggles stop me.
At that time, most colleges taught 3D art in a very general way. We learned a bit of everything: animation, modelling, rigging, sound design, and more. But after the first year, I knew that animation was what I truly wanted to pursue.
I can’t say that college taught me animation directly, but it taught me something even more important: how to research and learn on my own.
I later completed a Master’s degree in animation and started taking on commercial work as a junior animator.
Back then, the game industry in Greece was almost non-existent. In 2012, while preparing to move abroad for work, the first indie game startup appeared. I sent my CV to a studio called Monsters.
At first, they rejected me. But I followed up by sending them a playable Unity build showcasing my animations in-engine.
That made the studio owner give me a second chance, and I was hired as a contractor.
Two months later, I became a full-time employee.
I stayed at Monsters until 2023. That studio shaped me as a game developer. About 40–50% of my time there was focused on animation, while the rest was spread across multiple disciplines.
In indie development, you wear many hats. I worked on modelling, rigging, set dressing, game design, level design, and more.
Our team was usually between 5–10 people, so everyone had to adapt and contribute across different areas.
There was also a difficult side to that experience. We had five cancelled projects. People often hear about successful indie games, but the reality is much harsher. For every few indie titles that get released or gain recognition, hundreds fail or never see the light of day.
There are many reasons for that, publishers, financial struggles, or lack of experience.
In 2018, I became a father. Then in 2023, I faced serious personal health issues while also struggling financially.
At that point, I made the decision to reshape my career and aim for the AAA industry.
The challenge was that I had almost nothing I could publicly showcase from over a decade of work.
I had experience across side-scroller roguelikes, metroidvanias, top-down RPGs, and third-person horror games but almost all of it was under NDA.
My only option was to rely on personal projects and guidance from experienced professionals. I invested heavily in consultations with veteran animators, including Harvey Newman, and focused intensely on building a strong animation reel. For six months, with the support of my family, I dedicated myself fully to personal work, workshops, and applying for roles.
Eventually, I joined Airship Interactive, working on cinematics for Dune: Awakening.
To be honest, that transition felt quite natural. While cinematics have their own challenges, I was used to the complexity and non-linear nature of gameplay animation, which made the work feel more straightforward.
More importantly, I had the chance to work with an incredibly supportive and talented team.
I continued working at Airship on several exciting projects, most of which are still under NDA.
Before my contract ended, I applied for a gameplay animation role at Black Shamrock. Once again, I approached it in my own way.
They asked for a mocap cleanup test, and instead of just submitting an animation, I sent them a full Unreal Engine 5 playable build along with a video explaining my process.
That led to me joining them as an Animation Consultant, working with one of the most supportive teams I’ve experienced.
Ironically, most of the work I’m proud of is still under NDA, so I continue to rely heavily on personal projects to showcase my skills.
"Looking back, that variety of experience is what shaped how I work today. Constantly switching contexts forces you to adapt.
In indie development, you can’t think only as an animator; you have to think as a game developer first.
In larger productions, you learn structure, pipelines, and collaboration.
Somewhere in between, you start to understand what truly matters and what doesn’t."
The shift toward in-engine workflows, especially in Unreal, came naturally. At some point, I realized that most of the real decisions in gameplay animation don’t happen in Maya but in context. Feel, responsiveness, timing, blending, and state transitions all live inside the engine.
So instead of treating Unreal as a final step, I started treating it as my main workspace. That completely changed how I approach animation, from blocking to iteration.
The technical side is very present in your work ( from in‑engine workflows to debugging and iteration). How do you balance artistic intent with technical constraints in gameplay animation, and how has that balance evolved over time?
I wouldn’t consider myself technical, especially compared to technical animators or artists. I would say that I understand the design side of the games.
That said I understand that game animators need to be exposed more on the technical nature of our profession.
For me, that balance stopped being a “conflict” at some point.
Early on, it feels like tech is limiting what you want to do. Later, you realize the constraints are the design space.
"Gameplay animation isn’t about making the best-looking animation in isolation. It’s about making something that holds up under player control, blends well, reacts correctly, and doesn’t break systems."
So the way I approach it now is: I push the idea as far as I can artistically, but I validate constantly in engine. Not at the end. All the time.
That feedback loop is what keeps things grounded.
Over the years, I’ve become less precious about individual animations and more focused on the behaviour of the system as a whole.
From your perspective, what technical skills have become truly essential for a gameplay animator today, beyond the usual “learn the engine” advice? And on the artistic side, which animation principles do you feel remain absolutely non‑negotiable, even with Motion Matching, procedural systems, or fully in‑engine workflows?
Beyond “learn the engine”, I’d say animators today need to understand game-design and systems thinking.
State machines, blending logic, how data flows.
Not at a programmer level, but enough to debug and make informed decisions.
Debugging is a big one. Being able to look at something broken and understand why it’s happening instead of guessing.
On the artistic side, the basic principles are not changed.
Weight, timing, spacing, silhouettes, clarity of intent… those are still everything.
"That said, while basics are not changed when it comes to gameplay animation, we work with more than just the 12 animation principles.
Jonathan Cooper on his Game Anim book explain the 5 additional principles of Feel, Fluidity, Readability, Context & Elegance pretty well. "
Even with Motion Matching or procedural layers, if the source data is not respect those principles, the system will just give you messy results faster. Technology is more like exposing than replace fundamentals.
Turns are often where players really feel the connection between input and character. When you animate turns for locomotion, what are the elements you focus on to make them readable, responsive, and believable, both visually and in terms of gameplay feel?
Turns are where things either click or completely fall apart.
The main things I focus on are:
Clear direction change in the hips/root
Proper weight shift before and during the turn
Foot placement that feels intentional, not floaty
Readability from gameplay camera distance
Responsiveness is super important. If the character feels like it’s “thinking” before turning, it’s already too late.
I try to keep a strong connection between input and motion. Even small anticipation or delay needs to feel justified.
Also, I pay a lot of attention to how turns exit, not just how they start.
Blending back into locomotion cleanly and with creative ways is just as important and it is giving a lot of character and life to the playable characters.
When you work on banking animations, what do you mainly try to preserve to keep the movement believable and well connected to player input?
Banking is tricky because it can easily become cosmetic if you’re not careful.
What I try to preserve is the sense that the body is reacting to direction and momentum, not just leaning because “it looks cool”.
Even subtle banking should reflect:
Directional intent
Speed
Weight shift
If the player changes direction and the character leans the wrong way or too late, it breaks the connection instantly.
So I usually think of banking as part of the input response, not as an extra layer on top.
Motion Matching changes not only how animations are played, but also how they’re prepared. How does this system change the way you think about locomotion, in terms of planning, capture, and data organization, so the system can actually make good decisions?
This is true. Motion Matching really forces you to think in terms of data quality.
Since we are no longer crafting single animations, we are actually trying to feed the system with a large amount of high-quality, well-structured motion.
That affects everything and leads to many preproduction design decisions:
• We need to think carefully about how many animations each character actually needs.
• For how many of their locomotion movements do we need Motion Matching?
• How many different speed values are playable characters and NPCs going to use?
• How many different locomotion styles are we going to use?
• Do we need Motion Matching only for typical locomotion, or for interactions as well?
• It may sound like a typical and easy task, but naming conventions and organization play a huge role.
Most of the time, we are not thinking “Oh, I need a 90° turn animation,” but rather “I need enough data so the system can find a good 90° turn under different conditions.”
Planning becomes a big part of the job.
You work a lot directly inside Unreal. How does that change your way of animating compared to a classic Maya → engine workflow?
There are 3 main reasons for me.
The biggest difference is feedback speed. In a traditional workflow, you animate, export, implement, test… and repeat. That loop kills iteration and is time-consuming.
In Unreal, I can animate, test, adjust, and see results almost instantly.
That changes how I work creatively. I block differently. I test earlier. I’m less afraid to try things because I can validate them fast.
Also, I make decisions based on gameplay feel much earlier, not after the animation is “done”.
The second reason is that Unreal has a powerful space switching system.
Being able to switch from world to local space instantly without baking/unbaking, creating multiple locators, or snapping between FK and IK setups saves a lot of time and headaches.
Last but not least, I mainly work as a freelancer. Paying for commercial DCCs, plus plugins and tools, can easily go up to around €3K annually. Compared to that, Unreal being free makes a big difference for me.
What are the common pitfalls or bad habits you often see in animators who are just starting out in Unreal?
A big one is the mindset when shifting into a game engine.
People don’t see it as just another typical DCC, so they start wondering: “Does Unreal have X or Y tool that I’m used to?”
Instead, the question should be: “Where is located the X or Y tool that I’m looking for?”
Another one is treating Unreal like a viewer instead of a workspace.
People animate in Maya, import, and only use Unreal to “check”.
That misses the point.
Also, another issue is ignoring debugging tools. Unreal gives you a lot of ways to visualize what’s happening, but many beginners don’t use them.
How do you organize your work in Unreal to keep your workflow clean, readable, and efficient? And which Unreal features do you rely on the most in your day‑to‑day animation work?
I try to keep things as clean and readable as possible.
Features I rely on a lot:
• Clean and consistent naming conventions are the ultimate key to organization.
• Unreal’s flexibility to dock, undock, and build your own workspace based on personal preference or workflow needs is huge.
• All project content and art live inside the engine, so you don’t have to jump between multiple locations in your file explorer.
• Being able to open up to 5 Content Browsers, set colors to folders, and create favorite folders or collections with commonly used assets may sound small, but it has a big impact on how fast I work.
• When it comes to animation, having my animations linked with sequences makes it very easy to jump back into a specific animation and continue editing from where I left off, without baking it or ending up with hundreds of different DCC files for each animation.
So overall, I don’t use anything fancy, just very practical tools that boost in-engine organization.
You mentioned the difficulty of showing your work when everything is under NDA. How have you handled that throughout your career?
That’s always tricky in our industry.
After almost 15 years of working on around 10 projects, only 2 of them I can publicly mention, and only one I can fully showcase.
Five of my past indie projects got cancelled, three are still under development, and one is under time restriction before it can be revealed publicly.
Obviously, this is not a unique case. I know many developers with similar situations.
The game industry can be as tough as it is rewarding.
While we sometimes can showcase parts of our work with permission, it’s not easy and most of the time not even possible, since big studios rarely allow it.
Since most of the work I’m proud of is under NDA, I’ve had to rely heavily on personal projects, breakdowns, and sometimes recreating ideas in a safe way.
"Personal projects are a really powerful tool, not only because you can showcase your knowledge, but also your actual quality."
Let’s not forget that during production we have directors, leads, and sometimes other colleagues involved in our animations.
On personal projects, the quality is 100% ours.
That said, this can also be a double-edged sword. I’ve seen many reels with strong studio work, but when a personal shot is included, the quality drops and it shows.
Still, it’s a powerful approach, because the knowledge and experience you show in personal work are undeniably yours.
And on top of that, you can explain your professional experience through your CV. That combination is strong.
Last but not least, talking about your process helps. Even if you can’t show everything, explaining how you think and work goes a long way.
In your view, what makes a good personal project for a gameplay animator today?And what advice would you give to someone who wants to build a strong reel without being able to show their production work?
A good personal project today is one that shows an understanding of systems, not just isolated animations.
Things like:
• A mockup animation that imitates the gameplay you want to showcase. We don’t always need to present full systems, but we do need to show that we understand the gameplay and clearly communicate gameplay intent.
• Action responsiveness. Show responsive, fluid, and readable animations that demonstrate your understanding of gameplay animation.
• A small locomotion setup. Especially nowadays, with Blend Spaces and Motion Matching being accessible to everyone, feeding the system with your own animations can really boost your understanding of these workflows.
• Blending between animations. This is a big one in production. Blending can be technically tricky and can easily destroy the appeal of an animation if not handled well. Showing strong control over blending is always a solid move.
• Interaction between characters. Takedowns and multi-character interactions are always challenging in our job. While they are visually impressive, making them work in-engine requires more than just artistic skill. Making them playable definitely strengthens a reel.
Also, something important to mention. While Unreal Engine is a great rendering tool, don’t use it only that way if your intention is to show in-engine experience. The days where importing an FBX into the engine made you look like an “engine animator” are long gone.
If you want to show that you understand Unreal, you need to go well beyond that.
"At the same time, if you are a junior to mid-level animator, there is no real reason to focus heavily on the engine yet.
You are still building your foundation and your quality as an animator.
DCCs are already technical enough at that stage.
Focus on animation first.
The shots don’t need to be big. They need to be clear.
If you can’t show production work, recreate similar problems and solve them.
Show your thinking, not just the result."
To conclude, what do you think is the most useful piece of advice for a gameplay animator today?
If I had to give one piece of advice, it would be this:
Spend less time polishing animations in isolation, and more time understanding how they behave in context.
Gameplay animation is not only about quality animation but also about creating systems that feel good under player control.
The earlier you start thinking that way, the faster you grow.
Thank you to Alex Maniotis for the precision and honesty of his perspective on gameplay animation.
What truly sets this interview apart is the importance he gives to working directly inside Unreal.
Alex doesn’t treat Unreal as a secondary tool: for him, it’s the place where animation actually exists, where it’s tested, corrected, and understood.
He reminds us that mastering a DCC is no longer enough; a modern gameplay animator must know how to read the behavior of their animations inside the engine, not just on a timeline.
Another key point is his view on personal projects. Alex sees them as laboratories where you recreate problems, explore transitions, responsiveness, and context, a concrete and demanding way to show what production doesn’t always allow you to reveal.
And his final piece of advice captures this philosophy perfectly: stop polishing isolated animations, and start observing how they behave once integrated into gameplay.
A way of working that helps you grow faster, more accurately, and closer to the realities of the job.
In a field where we often talk about graphs, pipelines, and constraints, Alex brings a resolutely practical perspective: that of an animator who builds expertise inside the engine, testing, iterating, searching for the right feel.
A valuable contribution for anyone looking to progress in a technical, demanding, yet incredibly stimulating craft.
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