Animation issues in 2D pixel side-scrolling shooting games

I’m working on animating my game’s protagonist, and I want the character to adjust the angles of their head and arms to follow the player's mouse, allowing for 360-degree shooting. It’s similar to Enter the Gungeon, but my game is a side-scrolling 2D platformer like Metroid, not top-down. If it were hand-drawn, I might solve this with Spine and skeletal animation, but how can I achieve this with pixel art?

https://redd.it/1h0sfwm
@r_Unity3D

Why Does a Fish Need a Jet Ski?

https://redd.it/1h0n579
@r_Unity3D

Oklahoma.
https://redd.it/1h0wsy5
@r_Unity3D

Likely some safe magic here

https://redd.it/1h0vut6
@r_Unity3D

WIP on some drivable vehicles. Still needs some tweaking (and new engine sounds) but getting there!

https://redd.it/1h10uhx
@r_Unity3D

That's how you'll get new weapons.

https://redd.it/1h11au3
@r_Unity3D

Added several new mechanics to my roll-playing puzzle game (inspired by Bloxorz)

https://redd.it/1h12l74
@r_Unity3D

Very interesting AMA by Thomas Petersen, Ex-VP at Unity

https://x.com/qathomasnounity/status/1861321957502767282?s=46

Interesting bits:
- AAA market is not profitable for third party engine devs.
- He thinks competing with UE in AAA was a major mistake
- Acquisitions and management of Human resources were very bad for Unity
- Unity 6 can be supported until 2034(!)
- The changes planned for Unity 7 (shown off at Unite) are hard to achieve without breaking backwards compatibility (and might not come to fruition because of this. take this one with a grain of salt)

https://redd.it/1h12x17
@r_Unity3D

Procedural level generation using cellular automata, perlin noise, and poisson disk sampling
https://redd.it/1h11ws3
@r_Unity3D

I just released my first ever Demo for my World of Warcraft-Inspired Solo-Raiding RPG, Sil and the Fading World. Tell me what you think

https://redd.it/1h149u0
@r_Unity3D

We just released a new trailer for our space game that we are developing in Unity! What do you like and what would you improve?
https://youtu.be/wOofT_90OLM?si=UStlLtAUWE2_8QCh

https://redd.it/1h18cz7
@r_Unity3D

It’s crucial to showcase your game’s UI in screenshots—it helps Steam players better understand the gameplay. In VED, you can use the map to explore a magical world, strategic positioning to defeat monsters, and thoughtful choices to build relationships with characters.

https://redd.it/1h1aet0
@r_Unity3D

A teaser for our game Dreamwalker made with Unity
https://youtu.be/cj8Ha70Jh8s

https://redd.it/1h1ak3e
@r_Unity3D

I Added Dancing Trees to my Game 🌲🌲🌲🕺

https://redd.it/1h173qu
@r_Unity3D

I made some improvements to the forests in my game lately. Here's a before and after of the trees.

https://redd.it/1h1cauw
@r_Unity3D

How do i make my game look as good as the one on the right. Their game even performs better than mine

https://redd.it/1h13aar
@r_Unity3D