How do you define "butt jiggle" in games?

So obviously this is one of the many concepts on Giant Bomb. Butt jiggle.

Since there's no thread about it, I would like to create one in order to clear up some confusion. What is butt jiggle and exactly how do you define it? I get it, it has something to do with "physics", but that doesn't really define what it is.

What is butt jiggle in games?

Well, the concept page defines it pretty clearly:

A physics simulation or manual animation of a character's posterior.

Butt jiggle is the effect that occurs when butts move, or undulate, of their own accord. It's defined by a butt being given its own animation or physics within a game. The amount of jiggle varies between characters in a game and even within different moves performed by the same character. Butt jiggle is not to be confused with the more prominent butt wiggle, which involves a character shaking their posterior.

Where's the confusion?

I don't understand this:

"Butt jiggle is the effect that occurs when butts move, or undulate, of their own accord."

I mean, what?

And also:

"Butt jiggle is not to be confused with the more prominent butt wiggle, which involves a character shaking their posterior."

"when butts move"

"shaking their posterior"

What's the difference, really? What is butt jiggle?

Butt wiggle is basically just a character moving their butt provocatively. Examples: Metal Gear Solid, where Snake realises that Meryl, disguised as a genome soldier, is female because of the way her hips, and thus her butt, move when she walks etc; Bayonetta's walking animation, which is a super over-the-top cocky, sexy strut with bum wiggling for days.

Butt JIGGLE, on the other hand, is animated deformation of a character's butt, ie a change in shape, usually resulting from movement/change in momentum etc. Think of the way a bit of Jell-O will wobble around if it is moved. Now apply that principle to butts! It might be done in real time with soft-body physics solvers, but it could also just be pre-baked into the animation, especially with 2D hand-drawn butt jiggle.

Basically, wiggle is the way the character actively moves their butt and jiggle is some other residual motion as a result of the character moving. Wiggle is deliberate movement, jiggle is the effect of some other movement.

@damodar said:

Butt wiggle is basically just a character moving their butt provocatively. Examples: Metal Gear Solid, where Snake realises that Meryl, disguised as a genome soldier, is female because of the way her hips, and thus her butt, move when she walks etc; Bayonetta's walking animation, which is a super over-the-top cocky, sexy strut with bum wiggling for days.

Butt JIGGLE, on the other hand, is animated deformation of a character's butt, ie a change in shape, usually resulting from movement/change in momentum etc. Think of the way a bit of Jell-O will wobble around if it is moved. Now apply that principle to butts! It might be done in real time with soft-body physics solvers, but it could also just be pre-baked into the animation, especially with 2D hand-drawn butt jiggle.

OK, so basically... butt jiggle is when a flabby butt can't keep still when the character moves? And butt wiggle has nothing to do with the firmness of the butt?

Correct?

Wiggle comes from movement of the hips. Jiggle is movement of the butt cheeks.

I believe that is correct.

On a side note, i love that this is a thing that gets discussed in all seriousness on this website.

Thanks, but I think a description like this still isn't clear enough. Because it's not the same kind of movement, right?

Why wouldn't it be discussed seriously though? :-) What I find more interesting is why developers bother with - ON PURPOSE - giving certain characters flabby butts. Just imagine how the talks goes around the meeting table:

"Hey, I want to change this animation!"

"Why?"

"Err... her butt looks firm."

"Yeah, of course it does."

"Let's make it a little flabby! Let's give her more fat and animate that!"

"..........."

Is it possible to change the pic on the concept page to an animated gif?

@oberoendesvtlol: They do it on purpose because big, jiggly butts are considered sexy by some men. Google PAWG if yr really interested...

This is the most important of issues, and must be addressed with such reverence!

Also its funny comic relief.

Oh, Fatal Frame IV comes to mind

Why does Batman have a sixpack in Arkham games? It doesn't appeal to me as a (heterosexual) man but it's still a concept in games (though without a wiki page).

Don't take the following personal.

On topic:

Think of wiggle contra jiggle as animation of an action contra reaction respectively. Wiggle is animated when the player presses a button and jiggle when the player releases a button. For another type of jiggle see: Breast Bounce

Rump fat. It doesn't exist on a standard polygonal model without extra effort put forth to simulate it.

Isn't that legitimately called 'soft body physics'? Basically a bunch of art techniques to make a surface appear as if it has some give to it and isn't just a flat polygon?

Everything you need to know about jiggly butts is contained in this song right HERE.

This is cute, but I feel like you're being intentionally obtuse just to make this thread.

Slightly baffled at how seriously this is being discussed.

Fatal Frame V has some noticeable butt jiggle, as well. Along with DOA breast jiggle.

Considering there is also a mechanic where you're encouraged to get your character wetter so she gets stronger but her clothes get tighter and more transparent, these systems are especially significant.

I believe it is a spontaneous motion that happens after the rest of the body has come to rest (i.e. something that wouldn't actually happen). Having a weird walking animation which focuses on the booty is not necessarily a "butt jiggle."

Yeah, even I personally will never understand what's so sexy about a flabby butt. But I guess each to their own, right?

Uhm... what's funny with butt jiggle? I mean, unless it happens to an obviously overweight character?

Yeah, I think I get this now. Everyone can wiggle their butt back and forth, but only characters with enough rump fat have jiggle. Right?

@wrecks said:

Considering the movement she does, I wouldn't exactly call that "slight" - even her thighs jiggle along. She seems to have a slightly flabby lower body - do people really find that sexy?

@brodehouse said:

I think it's the sort of thing where if it looks like it's being done for the sillier reason, such as titillation, it gets the sillier name. Essentially, is it just the butts/boobs that jiggle, is it exaggerated, and is it only on the women? Can still be butt jiggle if it's a male character, of course, if the reason for it is silly.

This thread reminds me of this.

Other than making fun of fat people you see nothing comic with exaggerated jiggle on bodyparts?

"Anatomical Physics"

Exaggerated, yes. But neither Mai nor Vanessa has exaggerated butt jiggle. Just because their butts jiggle like slightly flabby butts do, it doesn't mean the jiggle is exaggerated. The Senran Kagura games have exaggerated butt jiggle, so I can see why people find that comical. But what's funny about the Mai's or Vanessa's jiggling booties?

Also, I think that the description for this concept needs to be rewritten. A "physics simulation" doesn't really explain what butt jiggle is about. For example, what kind of physics simulation is it? First, butt jiggle only exist on characters with soft and plump butts, because these characters have enough fat back there to jiggle. It's tricky though, because it's not about the character being overweight, it's only the butt that has a little extra flab so to speak.

But I really don't know how to put in shortly and clearly in a text. :(

It's just describing the way the animation happens, not any actual physics associated with real human posteriors. A butt jiggle is animated either through a physics engine, by assigning certain properties to the polygons that comprise the "butt" portion of the character, or through manual animation, by the artist applying their concept of a butt jiggle frame-by-frame.

Yes, but do you think that people will understand what this concept actually is by reading the current decription of it? I think not.

Butt jiggle only happens for two reasons it seems:

1) Comical effect - this is when the jiggle is exeggerated and the butt jiggles more than what should be physically possible - just for laughs. Compare this to Rufus's belly in Street Fighter.

2) Untoned/flabby butt - this is realistic, but also shows that the butt is a bit flabby. This is the case for all examples in this thread (Mai, Vanessa and Ruka). Maybe the developer simply wanted the character to have an untoned rear end, or he wanted to give the character a character flaw.

I think because of this, it's very different from boob jiggle. The article needs to state WHY it jiggles and wobbles, and not only that it's a generic physics simulation that could basically express anything.

Considering how rare butt jiggle is in games - and how common boob jiggle is - I think it's safe to say that the above two bullet points are valid, no?

@oberoendesvtlol: I read the description of it as-is and I understood it perfectly. Im pretty sure I qualify as belonging to the subset known as "people". And there is no reason for the article to express why it happens because it can happen for literally any reason. It doesn't just have to be funny or a flabby character. Maybe the developers decided they thought it looked sexy. Maybe they just wanted to see if they could pull off that sort of animation. Maybe it was done as a dare to see if they could slip it past QA.

It's not the role of the wiki to hypothesize developer intent. Unless you have quoted evidence of developers specifically speaking about their motivations for including butt jiggle, you're just making assumptions. Assumptions have no place in the wiki.

WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?

Good god, you're discussing this with such fervor, but the description is perfectly understandable as is. Like @hatking said, I feel like you're being obtuse just to keep this thread going. Why would the concept page need to detail the many potential reasons that a butt can jiggle?

Butt Jiggle is not a character flaw.

I cannot in good conscience believe the OP is being completely serious here.

Anyone else getting flashbacks to literally the only other forum thread attached to this wiki page?