Lightning Strikes & Electric Elements VFX - Unity Game Development - WIP Wednesday 32

Опубликовано: 06 Январь 2021
на канале: Aspiring Hero Games

1,244

#indie #indiegamedev #gamedev #gamedevelopment #gamedesign #wipwed #wipwednesday #blender #unitygamedev

Welcome back to another Work In Progress (WIP) Wednesday! I am designing a fantasy video game, and these videos are designed to show the process of creating a video game in Unity. I'll describe where I'm at in the game development process, what I'm working on currently, and show some of the features as they're being developed.

In this week's video, I've been creating visual effects for lightning strikes using shaders, as well as electrical hazards for the game, so let's take a look at what I've been doing.

I plan on having a dungeon with an electrical elements within it, with enemies that can use a range of electrical attacks. As such, I wanted to work on a few visual effects for this elemental power.
The first thing I created was a lightning strike. I followed a great tutorial to create a basic version of it, such as the thunderbolt and the flashes of light, along with the scorched earth.
I then added some burnt particles flying off to cement their destructive power. To expand this further, I aimed to make the strikes more like a typical attack you would expect.

I created a system which would allow me to form rows of strikes, each separated by a defined distance and falling after a certain period of time. This allows me to make a range of different strike effects, such as this expanding triangular shape, or this linear strike. I can also control when they strike, whether that be individually or all at once, so I have a lot of options when it comes time to implementing them in the game.

Next, I worked on an electrical arc. At it's core, it is a line controlled by a Bezier curve, so I'd be able to create some interesting curves for the path. The line itself is offset with some noise, creating the zigzagging effect.
The end point is connected to this orb, which I can move around and the arc moves to bridge the gap. I can also control the tangent of the
end point, creating a much larger arc at the end if necessary.
I used a shader to control the brightness of the orb, giving it that flashing effect.

Combining these elements together, and with a little extra bits and pieces, I created this rotating electrical hazard. Using an extra arc on the connections really gives the impression that the orbs are connected by electricity. This was an inspirational creation of mine, as I've thought of some great ideas which I can use in the game just from this.

I added a few final additions to it, such as some light flashing particles, an outer shell of electricity, and some lights within. The end result is shown here. I'm really happy with how this turned out, I never expected to create something like this when I started working on these features this week! This has become my favourite visual effect that I've worked on so far & I'm really looking forward to incorporating it fully into the game.

I followed a few tutorials to piece together the parts of this video, I will link them in the description.

Let me know what you think below, I'd love to hear from you!

#########
Facebook:   / aspiringherogames
Instagram:   / aspiringherogames

Music by Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com)

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
0:11 - Lightning Strikes
1:14 - Electrical arc
1:49 - Electrical hazard
2:22 - Electrical hazard update
2:47 - Outro

Tutorials Followed:
Unity VFX Graph - Lightning Shader Effect Tutorial
   • Unity VFX Graph - Lightning Shader Ef...  .
Unity Shader Graph - Electricity Shader Effect Tutorial
   • Unity Shader Graph - Electricity Shad...  .
Visual Effect Graph - Tutorial #04 - Electric Arc (Intermediate)
   • Visual Effect Graph - Tutorial #04 - ...