The way her telescopic arms work has always been fudged in-game and in art, so I'm wondering if I should animate Pinafore cleaning the family portrait with this sprite-chain arm.

There. One sequence dedicated to the phrase "Breathe it in" has been animated.

It was either gonna be this, or a text box going "*sniiiifffffffff* Ahhhhh."

The hair might need work, though.

Whoooooa, we're halfway there!

...in terms of cutscenes.

Line work first, then shading.

Also, if you're asking "where's her hair?", that's gonna animate separately.

I might have to put this in a little black box on-screen, but that's no problem for me.

Resistance is futile.

Some big motions require big animation.

The least I can do is try to get the big motions right before drawing all the other details.

The DemoBots need graphics for cutscenes, too. Yes, they become a joke as the game progresses, but they're a natural enemy for a robot maid.

As the first major cutscene, I have to show the scale without going crazy with drawing too much.

As such, these two DemoBots up front do a bit of acting, and we never see them again.

Plan B for this sequence.

Now with real-time cleaning action, and a stretching sprite for the arm.

Still doing cinematics.

It still requires a lot of drawing of new assets, and I just put in that Mode 7 effect for later cutscenes.