Released in 1983, AnimAction once again turns the Vectrex into an animation studio. This unique title lets you create your own frame-by-frame animated scenes using the Light Pen. You compose, draw, assemble and animate your own sequences. It’s a sort of extension to the well-known Art Master, which came bundled with the Light Pen.
AnimAction
Developer : GCE (General Consumer Electronics)
Year: 1983
Genre: Artistic Creation / Animation
Modes: Single-player (requires the Light Pen)
A complete creative interface
AnimAction lets you build animations by combining hand-drawn elements with predefined sprites. It comes with a library of 48 sprites, including geometric shapes, faces, animals and various objects. These can be dragged into a scene, adjusted, moved, resized, flipped and even made brighter or dimmer. On top of that, you can create up to 20 custom sprites and add them to the library. Drawing is done using the Light Pen, with specific buttons to trace freehand lines or straight segments.
Once your elements are in place, you move on to the animation phase. Each frame can be edited, sprites repositioned, and a “shadow” system shows the previous position to help fine-tune movement. The total number of frames depends on how many objects are used, but can go up to 28. That’s enough to make smooth and expressive short animations.
Freehand drawing and fixed background
In addition to sprites, AnimAction allows you to draw a static background. This backdrop stays visible for the entire animation, letting you establish a steady frame of reference like a horizon line, a mountain, a house or a tree. While the animated objects move, the background stays still, giving depth to the scene.
An advanced tool
Unlike Art Master, AnimAction takes interactivity further with its focus on movement and construction. The process is methodical: select a sprite, adjust it, go to the next frame, reposition, test… until the animation feels right. It’s a bit harder to get into at first, as many actions rely on button combinations and some operations require checking the manual. But once you get the hang of it, the tool becomes very intuitive and lets you create some great animations.
A style true to the Vectrex aesthetic
AnimAction uses the Light Pen with precision, offering a responsive feel that works very well. The clarity of vector lines gives each animation a certain elegance. Seeing your personal creations take shape in the classic Vectrex style is genuinely satisfying.
You can play back your animation at any time, with several playback options: standard, loop, or forward-reverse loop. It’s when everything starts moving that the magic really happens.
Some Light Pen Creations
What Stands Out
✅ Strengths :
- Accurate and responsive use of the Light Pen.
- A lot of freedom in scene construction.
- Rich and customizable sprite library.
❌ Weaknesses :
- Somewhat technical to learn at first.
- Technical limits on how many lines can be on screen.
An animation studio in a vector console
AnimAction goes far beyond the goals of a simple drawing tool. You can create almost any animation you can imagine with this little piece of software. It’s a real animation experience, where you take the time to build each frame by hand. For Light Pen owners, it’s a surprisingly complete and valuable title… as long as you’re ready to invest the time to animate.
All images and creation are from Japhy Riddle, watch his video:
(Note: This video is an entirely independent initiative and is not affiliated with our group)
