VFX for Video Games - Necromancer Monk

Github Repo

Playlist containing videos of progress over time.

Inspiration:

My effects were initially inspired by the GrishaVerse book series by Leigh Bardugo. In these books, the author uses vivid detail to present a morally grey and troubled character with abilities similar to a necromancer (e.g. raising the dead). The character uses her abilities to fight, but also to save those she loves.

"The net, she demanded. Now. The corpses moved in a blurry burst of speed, rushing forward, then suddenly halting, as if awaiting instruction. She gathered her concentration and willed them to obey, shoving all her strength  and life into their bodies. In seconds they had the net in their hands, and they were running, so fast Nina could not track them." 

- Nina uses the undead to catch someone with a net.

"Now that the fear of the ambush and Inej's fall were abating, she felt a kind of disgust. What had she just done? What had she tempered with?" 

- Good or evil? Not clear to the character.

Using these books as inspiration, I began looking at games for a better reference. Fade was one of the best references, as her colour pallet is dark and evil using smoke.

Blueprints:

On top of VFXs, we were also graded for how optimal are Blueprints were. My project has a pooling system for the effects, this is good, because when there will only be one at a time, it is more efficient than spawning and destroying constantly.

The effects are stored in a map, which can easily be used to get them via an enum ID.