Blown to 8-Bits

So, I’m prototyping a game where the player can build a semi-procedural space station by choosing between pre-built room shapes and linking them together. This presented the problem that I needed to find a way to determine if an airlock would allow the player to walk out into open space or if it was connected to an adjacent room. 

My first thought was to simply attach a trigger volume to the airlock door that would look for another trigger volume on an opposite airlock, which if found, would allow the door to open. Apparently Unreal does not let trigger volumes fire an event within another trigger volume however, so I had to come up with another method. (I’m convinced that they still might be able to and I’m just doing it wrong but after several failed attempts to get it working and several hours of looking at google I still haven’t been able to find a way to make that work.)

So here’s how I solved this particular issue. If I can find a better way to do it I might switch to that but this is working for now.

Progression on ultimate attack going from ref > blocking > in betweens > polish

R: Extinction Event – Amintas channels a short time, sending the crystal high into the air before calling it back down to ravage the targeted area. All enemies caught in the blast are dealt a large deal of magic damage and slowed 60% for 1.5 seconds; enemies in the blast’s epicenter are instead slowed for 80% and receive bonus true damage.

Animation: For this animation I needed to drive home the supernatural aspect of the ability (since the character is using the crystal’s power not his own) and also for it to have some kind of “wow” factor as it is the character’s strongest ability. I decided that having the character float up in a trance like state would check both those boxes and give me the opportunity to showcase the crystal itself which does all the damage; which is why I made it float above Amintas in the air before taking off. Initially I had the character pick himself up off the ground but from a gameplay perspective no matter how I tried to execute it, it took to long. So that’s when I tried having the crystal return to Amintas with enough velocity it picked him up instead, which could happen much faster! This also has the added bonus of showing how fast the crystal was travelling previously (it flies off screen to get into position before) and what kind of power it can have. 

Progression on the attack going from ref > blocking > in betweens > polish

*please excuse my muffin top in the ref vids

E: Cor’s Wrath – Amintas causes a great stone pillar to erupt from target location dealing magic damage and displaces the first enemy it makes contact with, knocking them back towards Amintas. If Amintas is the first character to make contact with the pillar it will knock him backwards instead, acting as a dash and allowing him to traverse over obstacles.

Animation: This attack animation would ideally be used by the player during an ambush scenario, so to that end I tried to get the first part of the motion done as fast as possible so that it could trigger the necessary effect with looking off. Because of this the character does about half of the motion in the animation over only 1/3 of the animation’s run time. Similar to the previous attack I didn’t have the full time to really sell the antic the way I would have liked, so I compensated on the rebound as he lands, taking my time to make sure that the weight sold as well as possible. In addition, I tried to make the gems fall as naturally as possible so even if the character’s movements were a bit off the gems themselves (which the enemy players would be watching to see what they do) would look and feel right.

Progression of Amintas’ second ability from ref>blocking>in betweens>polish.

W: Gem Rush – Amintas is charged with the power of Runeterra, making his next basic attack in the next 4 seconds hit with all of his gems for bonus magic damage. This attack deals bonus physical damage instead if Amintas is in the jungle or river, surrounded by Runeterra’s beauty.

Animation: As the character design called for this to be a powered up normal attack this had to be Amintas’ fastest animation. In order for gameplay to not be interrupted the character goes through the bulk of the animation in only 9 frames. this doesn’t leave a lot of time for antic or to sell the animation properly, so to compensate for this I first stretched out the character’s arms at the start and during his swing to exaggerate the momentum being generated and also to increase the readability of the attack. After that I had the character pause at the end of his down swing for 3-4 frames (1/3 of the prior animation!) to give the viewer’s eye a chance to catch up and register what just happened. 

Additionally, Amintas takes his time receiving his gems again, selling the speed and weight that was missing in the attack earlier by stretching out the gems to emphasize their velocity and making him recoil from the perceived impact of the gems returning to him. In this way even though I cheated the beginning of the animation the viewer’s sense of what feels “right” is returned before the animation ends.

Progression on the attack going from ref > blocking > in betweens > polish

Q: Crumble – Amintas uses the power of the crystal to create a tremor, causing a fissure to travel in a line in front of him. Enemies caught in the attack take magic damage and are slowed for 2 seconds and enemies within melee range of Amintas are knocked back.

Animation: As a game animation the character movements had to be fairly fast so that the player could cast the ability and then resume gameplay as soon as possible. In a fast paced game like League of Legends it is also important that the animations read really well with the few frames you get to execute them and with all the other things in the game going on. 

In order to accomplish this I tried two key things: the first is the exaggerated dip that the character takes before throwing his gems so that a player watching this happen would see this unique movement (meaning that the character doesn’t dip like that while walking or even using his other abilities) and would then know that Amintas was casting his first spell. The second was to stretch out the character’s arm so that from any angle it was obvious that he was throwing something and in which direction, I really wanted to telegraph that. In addition the stretching of the arm transfers the viewer’s focus from the character to the gems he’s throwing, which at that point are the more important things to be tracking. This in conjunction with a particle effect, which you can see in the attacks montage here, I think accomplish what I needed that animation to do.