2D Animation Software Suggestions

Hi,

I've had some off-time from game design & development scene and I need a help with one of my questions.
Actually I've asked about this before but it's a really old topic and wasn't successful for getting required answers.

I've been working on a game from time to time. All alone.
In some parts I need animations for some puzzles on the levels.
i.e. Falling rocks animation.

I use Spriter for character animations and that's all. Most of the remaining graphichs are still/background images. Quite a few years ago I had been using Adobe Flash when it was it's golden era. Now it's been years I haven't used it.

My question is, apart from those two softwares above that I've mentioned, which external software is the best and easiest to create nice in-game animations? Do you prefer to use physics on such animations or do you prefer to use tween animation methods where you manually create frame based animations?

Regards,

 

take a look at spine, but in the unity 2018 beta there are 2d animation packages that are just as good in many respects + are free and in engine

 

Thank you for the suggestion.

Are you referring to new features like Hinge Joint 2D and etc?

If so, I actually tried one of them. The Hinge Joint. But things didn't go the way I expected. I created a bridge and lowered it with a lever but as far as I remember I had some issues making it rest still. Whenever I jump on the bridge it had some problems with bouncing back. It belongs to another topic which must be posted in C# coding forum I think.
That's why I gave up trying to use built-in physics based animation tools. They were problematic at that time, don't know if they're fixed or even the problem itself is related to my approach or not.

Do you refer to those or are there other additions since the last updates?

Thank you for suggesting Spine. I have heard it many times. Is it different from Spriter?
Can you create tween animations or physics based animations within it?

Regards,

 

Check out ToonBoom.
https://blog.toonboom.com/how-to/setting-up-your-games-pipeline-from-harmony-to-unity