Effects Feedback Thread (Spells ,Waterfalls ,Falling leaves ect.)

i guess i like the idea of creeping random spasmodic arcs earthing and emitting again!

btw is lightning arrow close to what you want?

I am quite on board lightning arrow and lightning strike actually, yes.

To be honest though if you look at the radiating lines coming out from lightning strike they still seem a bit furry - this might be a complaint that is absolutely particular to me, but I love it when "effects" transmit an idea of directionality or force. Every spin-off feathery tendril makes it feel like the force is dissipating in every direction rather than it being a devastating bolt of force that goes from HERE to HERE.

Do you see what I mean?

It's the same thing with the fireball animation.

When you hit somebody with a fireball, the explosion is a puff that goes in every direction - but it feels like it should puff out behind the person hit in the direction of travel because of the impetus of the fireball itself. The explosion seems like it would be appropriate for a stationary blob just detonating, but a fireball that has been travelling? The elements of it would splash out behind the target, kind of like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90VyvOhPmA0

its an extreme example, but even if you had force coming in all directions from the centre of that balloon a lot would still go backwards!

Obviously, I'm not a professional effects artist - but I would love it if you would test something like that just to see if you like it. I really feel like the essential element with a spell effect is that the person watching should be able to use their mental machinery that deals with motion to interpret the action as being an instance of "thing transmitting force". And I feel like the small details really effect the perceived impetus and momentum of a strike.

Also on an entirely independent note - I love the idea of the fireball being slightly liquid, "pure fire" fireballs have always seemed insubstantial and not really something my mind can model properly. I think "splash damage" can be taken quite beneficially literally here!

where are the crows?
They would be ultimate cliche embellishment to the church ruin and graveyard.
As well done as that set is it just doesn't seem complete without a flock of crows scattering as you approach them... This simple device added some real credible atmosphere to 'the witcher' and to the first level of 'demon souls'.
whatdya reckon?

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Nemesis5858 wrote:

where are the crows?
They would be ultimate cliche embellishment to the church ruin and graveyard.
As well done as that set is it just doesn't seem complete without a flock of crows scattering as you approach them... This simple device added some real credible atmosphere to 'the witcher' and to the first level of 'demon souls'.
whatdya reckon?

Ahh sure but not sure what that has to do with effects. Maybe your thinking of "for effect" :P

Ill answer you properly later Neonexe

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Russell wrote:

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Nemesis5858 wrote:

where are the crows?
They would be ultimate cliche embellishment to the church ruin and graveyard.
As well done as that set is it just doesn't seem complete without a flock of crows scattering as you approach them... This simple device added some real credible atmosphere to 'the witcher' and to the first level of 'demon souls'.
whatdya reckon?

Ahh sure but not sure what that has to do with effects. Maybe your thinking of "for effect" :P

Ill answer you properly later Neonexe

yeah, no worries dude seems like i posted in the wrong thread :S
Who's in charge of the crows then? :)

Nice

much <3 russell i know you dudes are pretty busy :D

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Russell wrote:

ahhh im confused if your talking about lightning or lightning? Lightning wise im not sure what your talking about more detailed. If you compair the lightning iv made to the one in d2 mine has far more detail in it. I love d2s lightning but it didn't work in our game so well as we have a lot of tone variation. Bright white lightning works when all your environments are dark grey to black but not from white to black. I actually original had white lightning but you could not see it at all in the lighter areas. Thats why I needed to add a glow colour. In which case I picked a dark evilish purply blue instead of a light blue like most games pick. I thought it fit the dark theme a little better. Also I don't like light blue :P

Hey Russell,

yes, i believe this isnt pretty easy. The lighting strike of the lighting arrow skill is really close to my imagination. It isnt that colorful, but transports the image of a real powerful lighting stroke, cause its detailed and with ittle discarches along the stroke and the glow on the ground. Even the glow on the ground is missing for the "Spark" gem, however it should only be displayed in dark areas.

And you are right, the sparks looks really better then in d2 and i like how there are "travelling" and the effect when hitting an enemy.

I appreciate that you watch out of the spell effects and their color is fitting into the scenery. The d3 devs arent doing it so it looks soooo colorful, e.g. green frogs on very dark background is ugly.

Just my 2cents, keep up the great work.

Just one little thing I noticed in the open beta week.

The login screen with the rain is way more demanding and heat the GPU a lot more than in game.

I left the game in the login screen for 10 mins it got very hot.

Maybe an option to disable menu animations like LoL might be good, or just some reduced frame ratio there.