Systems and methods for constrained physically controlled animation selection and playback

A computer-implemented method executable by a user computing device for executing a game application, the computer-implemented method comprising:

• generating a virtual game environment comprising a first virtual character model and a second virtual character model;
• identifying a collision event for a first frame, between the first virtual character model and the second virtual character model, the first virtual character model and the second virtual character model being in a locomotive state within the virtual game environment;
• determining one or more first metrics of the first virtual character model, and one or more second metrics of the second virtual character model, wherein at least one of the one or more first metrics and at least one of the one or more second metrics comprise (i) physics metrics relating to the locomotive state of the first virtual character model and the second virtual character model, and (ii) user inputs corresponding to user control of one of the first virtual character model or the second virtual character model;
• applying the one or more first metrics and the one or more second metrics to a model, to determine an outcome of the collision event for a second frame;
• identifying, from an animation data store, an animation sequence having a type of animation sequence corresponding to the determined outcome, based on the identified animation sequence having one or more animation metrics which satisfy a match criterion corresponding to at least some of the one or more first metrics and the one or more second metrics;
• and
• generating the second frame, including at least a portion of a collision between the first virtual character model and the second virtual character model, according to the identified animation sequence.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, causes the computing system to perform a method for rendering frames within a gaming application, the method comprising:

• generating a virtual game environment comprising a first virtual character model and a second virtual character model;
• identifying a collision event for a first frame, between the first virtual character model and the second virtual character model, the first virtual character model and the second virtual character model being in a locomotive state within the virtual game environment;
• determining one or more first metrics of the first virtual character model, and one or more second metrics of the second virtual character model, wherein at least one of the one or more first metrics and at least one of the one or more second metrics comprise (i) physics metrics relating to the locomotive state of the first virtual character model and the second virtual character model, and (ii) user inputs corresponding to user control of one of the first virtual character model or the second virtual character model;
• applying the one or more first metrics and the one or more second metrics to a model, to determine an outcome of the collision event for a second frame;
• identifying, from an animation data store, an animation sequence having a type of animation sequence corresponding to the determined outcome, based on the identified animation sequence having one or more animation metrics which satisfy a match criterion corresponding to at least some of the one or more first metrics and the one or more second metrics;
• and
• generating the second frame, including at least a portion of a collision between the first virtual character model and the second virtual character model, according to the identified animation sequence.