The real question is, how far are we trying to get to the actual in-cartridge animations, and how much originality are we trying to maintain? I mean, colored balls of light work, but only to a certain extent...
Our graphics try to capture the spirit of the in cartridge animations without A) having so many resources on screen that it causes some computers to lag (rarely happens, but makes it impractical to have a move like Leaf Storm shoot out 20 leaves at once), and B) filling up our server space with tons of unique graphics per move. Also, the graphics are much more quickly paced (almost never surpassing 1100 ms), so some moves are simplified when we shorten them.
But personally, I'd try to give all spread moves spread-like animations, and single-target moves single-target animations. I say this because stuff like Muddy Water and Icy Wind still have animations that look like single-target.
Absolutely. This is exactly what I'm working on, actually, trying to get spread moves to seem like they spread.
The colored balls of lights are ok for some animations but they just seem to generic now as about 90% of attacks are displayed by them, it's just too PS esqe
"it's just too PS esqe" because we're PS!
It's not about the fact that most moves use the colored orbs that makes it feel generic, but the fact that many attacks use the same animations. It's not the colored orbs that are the problem, it's how we use them. (Look at Boomburst's current animation.) Adding diversity to common moves now is the goal, really, in any way we can. Last update added leaf images to moves for this very purpose. It's a long road and not a high priority, but it will get done eventually.