How to Add Animated Characters to a Game Using Makko
Adding animated characters to a game is one of the most common friction points in early development. Creators often struggle with managing animations, aligning assets, and getting characters to appear correctly in-game.
Makko simplifies this process by combining AI-native workflows with structured character setup. This guide walks through how to add characters, animations, and manifests so they are fully playable inside your game.
By the end of this walkthrough, your characters will be animated, placed into the world, and ready to play. For terminology used below, reference the Makko AI Game Development Glossary .
New to Makko? See how it works.
To see the technical workflow of the adding animated characters to a game, watch our detailed tutorial:
What Is a Character Manifest?
A character manifest is a container that defines everything a character can do.
In Makko, a manifest includes only the animations that belong to a single character. This typically includes:
- Idle animations
- Movement animations such as walking or running
- Attack or interaction animations
- Any custom animations created for that character
Each character should have its own manifest. Mixing animations from multiple characters into a single manifest can cause incorrect behavior in-game.
Create a Character Manifest
To begin, create a manifest for your character.
When building the manifest, select only the animations that belong to that specific character. This ensures Makko can correctly associate animations with character behavior during gameplay.
If you plan to add multiple characters to your game, repeat this step for each one. Every character should have a separate manifest with only its own animations.
Align Character Animations
Once a character manifest is created, use the animation alignment tool.
This tool displays all animations included in the manifest. Each animation should be aligned to the center of the canvas.
Proper alignment is important because misaligned animations can cause characters to appear offset, float incorrectly, or clip through the environment during gameplay.
Go through each animation and align it consistently. Repeat this process for every character you plan to add to the game.
Add Character Assets to the Project
After aligning animations, add the character assets to your game project.
From the asset tab in the toolbar, open the asset options and select “Add to Project.” Do this for each character individually.
Adding characters one at a time allows the project to correctly recognize and register each asset. This step ensures the AI can reference the characters when generating gameplay logic.
Add Characters Using Quick Actions
Once assets are added, open Quick Actions and select “Add a Character.”
Choose the character you want to include, then generate the prompt. This step tells Makko’s Agentic AI Chat to integrate the character into the game.
Repeat this process for every character you want included. After all characters are added, you are ready to rebuild the project.
Rebuild and Test the Game
Rebuild the project to apply the changes. Once the rebuild completes, launch the game and check that all characters appear correctly.
If you see UI placeholders or unexpected images in front of animations, this usually means the game is still referencing generated assets instead of external animations.
Fix Animation Placeholder Issues
If a placeholder appears, start a new chat with the AI and describe the issue clearly.
For example, you might instruct the AI to:
- Hide animation UI placeholders for specific characters
- Use only externally added animations
- Ignore any generated placeholder assets
After the AI applies the fix, rebuild the project again and re-test the game. This ensures the updated logic is correctly reflected in gameplay.
Why This Workflow Works
Makko’s approach combines structured asset management with intent-driven game development .
Instead of manually wiring animations to code, creators define intent and let the system coordinate assets, logic, and state.
This reduces setup friction and makes it easier to add or update characters without breaking existing gameplay.
Related Reading
- How Agentic AI Chat Builds Game Logic
- Prompt-Based Game Creation: How Text Becomes Gameplay
- AI Game Generator From Text
Build Animated Games With Makko
If you want to add animated characters without managing complex animation pipelines, Makko provides an AI-native environment designed for asset coordination, logic planning, and fast iteration.
Animate your games now: Start Building Now.
For additional walkthroughs and tutorials, visit the Makko YouTube channel .
