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Ancient
Mallius Odium
Players Playing Bloodbath Demo
Grim Scribe
Old World
Harbinger
Mar 16, 2021
72
1
68
148
Texas
After seeing how great N'gaztak looks in-game, I'm excited all-around to see exactly how much y'all are going to be able to do with this engine graphics-wise. I've been thinking about how awesome the VFX could be for spells and weather effects and whatnot, and have been going through my head on how this stuff acts in the real world, and how that might be used as a potential framework for how it can be approached in the game itself. First and foremost in my mind's eye:

Lightning

Lightning's a stream of energy flowing back and forth very very fast, from positive charge to negative, or vice-versa. It is an act of balance in nature, in the real world. It can flow from cloud to ground (cg), ground to cloud (upward lightning), or even from one area of clouds to another without touching the ground (cloud to cloud/horizontal lightning/cloud flash). There's also been talk of the elusive ball lightning over the years which acts in its own mysterious ways.

I was going to go into more detail about exactly how lightning works, but I think I'll let the well-liked storm chaser, musician, and all-around good guy Pecos Hank do it instead.


Now how exactly could this information be used to impact the visuals and behavior of spells in DHS? (In other words what would I like to see?)

The idea that magick users might just be using (or abusing in the case of Liches ;)) nature's own laws to create outstanding events tickles my brain. So when a magick user casts their bread and butter Lightning Bolt, maybe they're not simply producing a large amount of electricity in a straight line in front of them, but rather selecting a zone behind their intended target(s) and creating a strong negative/positive charge there, and creating a strong opposite charge on/around their hands so that the bolt would form from both ends similar to how it works in the real world (though the ground leaders are often a lot shorter than the rest of the bolt, in cg).
This might even entail a random chance for which target gets the brunt of the attack if there are many of them when you cast, if it's not specifically chain lightning. It could also determine the differences between lower level lightning magicks and higher level, with negative lightning spells being less damaging overall, but with lingering electric stunning effects and potentially hitting a target several times--whereas positive lightning could hit extremely hard by comparison, but only hit once, though if the target survives the initial strike it could get so hot from the bolt that it has a chance to be set ablaze by it (special tarot effect?).

Food for thought.


Edit--

I had forgotten about the sprites and jets--in DHS those might be an indicator of when really strong electrical spells are being cast, or potentially if a spell crits, and they could appear above/around the caster's head when the spell goes off. Or alternately they could appear as an unlockable cosmetic effect.
 
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The idea that magick users might just be using (or abusing in the case of Liches ;)) nature's own laws to create outstanding events tickles my brain. So when a magick user casts their bread and butter Lightning Bolt, maybe they're not simply producing a large amount of electricity in a straight line in front of them, but rather selecting a zone behind their intended target(s) and creating a strong negative/positive charge there, and creating a strong opposite charge on/around their hands so that the bolt would form from both ends similar to how it works in the real world (though the ground leaders are often a lot shorter than the rest of the bolt, in cg).
Ill comment (though im not a fan of fishing)

I dont understand why they would make the ground behind a target a strong charge, but they could just make the target that. Meaning even if the target moves the lightning will/should follow. also the forming on both ends is on a super large scale and in slower motion sometimes. While I think it will look great and amazing i dont know that ill be looking for something that should basically happen almost instantly
 
You might be seeing it differently in your head than I'm seeing it in mine. From what I know of the magick system right now, spells likely won't be instantaneous, you'll have to put words in the correct order to have the desired effect, and that might take a second or two or five or eight depending on how complex/powerful the spell/desired effect is.
I'm thinking about how the spell's formation would look before the bolt(s) leap out, when they leap out, and after it's done.
As for the method of targeting--I wasn't really intending for it to come across as us selecting the area behind the enemies, but rather the combat engine itself doing all the hard work...but honestly I'd probably be fine with that amount of control, personally. Also it wouldn't have to be targeting the ground, since there's horizontal lightning that never touches the ground as well...though technically you could argue that this would be "touching" the ground almost every time, since most of our enemies will be on the ground (when will we get to fight dragons? o_O).

What's fishing in relation to this?
 
From what I know of the magick system right now, spells likely won't be instantaneous, you'll have to put words in the correct order to have the desired effect, and that might take a second or two or five or eight depending on how complex/powerful the spell/desired effect is.
We dont really know that much even. Half of what was said was "For example" and definitely didnt seem concrete.
But when you say put the words in order it makes it sound like you are selecting the words on the fly? In my mind it would simply be something preset. But I could see casting times being varied for sure. But what I mean by instantaneous is a bolt of lightning. It is instantaneous. Especially on a small scale from one object to another. Thats only maybe different in the case of something like chain lightning where the source is continuously providing a discharge.

I'm thinking about how the spell's formation would look before the bolt(s) leap out, when they leap out, and after it's done.

I love visuals for sure...I will be the first person on that line. But maybe not in regards to lightning.
I for sure see a type of casting animation...maybe different depending on the element...charging red for fire blue for lightning/ice/water then the spell itself, then what is left.. particles floating away. Something like FFXV summons especially Ramuh since lightning is the topic.

As for the method of targeting--I wasn't really intending for it to come across as us selecting the area behind the enemies, but rather the combat engine itself doing all the hard work...but honestly I'd probably be fine with that amount of control, personally. Also it wouldn't have to be targeting the ground, since there's horizontal lightning that never touches the ground as well...though technically you could argue that this would be "touching" the ground almost every time, since most of our enemies will be on the ground (when will we get to fight dragons? o_O).
As i have thought about this i think i have changed my thought. Being able to target a space rather than just an enemy would be great. Especially in the case of something like a volcano spell or life spring. Lightning could work in this sense also as a way of maybe setting tethers. For a bolt though I would still say source to target.

Fishing was literally in regard to your comment of "surprised no one's commented/reacted yet on that new thread I posted" it may have been petty of me and I apologize for that since it was in regards to you. I should be better and set a better example, but yet I dont want people to think just because they post something they are entitled to a response, and i dont want others to feel like they must respond on something they may not be interested in.

It was petty. it was rude. Im sorry.

From this we did have a good talk about something things..and thats always a plus!
 
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Fair points there. I guess I was jumping the gun a little in my head because other people sounded more adamant about how spells would use Words, so I let my mind assemble imagery based on that, with such little direction from the Apoc fellas. I was thinking that--assuming there is a casting time of any length for lightning/electric spells--when the target(s) are selected to the time the spell actually takes real effect, the start of it can be seen on/around the targets (so leaders reaching out toward/from you/them until the spell takes effect) then the connection completes and BOOM!! lightning things happen.
I never played FF15 so I can't make any comment toward that.
There's a lot of area where the actual mechanics could impact a lot of how the spells look and work in practice, yes...I'm not sure if there's a best/right answer for it, but I just let my imagination run wild a lot of the time, and if it looks/sounds cool enough in my head, I start looking into it and eventually make a post about it some place.

When it comes to my comment on Discord, I wrote that because I know how ravenous most of us are about the game and any/all information pertaining to it--it was an honest comment on how a fair part of a day went by and no one had said anything or reacted to it already, and that surprised me since I was expecting it to get views pretty much immediately from some of us, and input/feedback following that pretty soon after.
I do like bouncing my ideas off of other people and have theirs bounced off of me. I do a lot of my best thinking/refining when it's not a closed echo chamber of my mind to itself.
I also do get those little dopamine hits when people do talk about stuff I write up, like anyone, but I wasn't "fishing" when I wrote that. I know that everything's going to get views/comments/feedback eventually, no matter how small a suggestion or off topic it might be.
We're a small but very amped up community right now.
 
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No worries...we are all super excited about this game. Thats why I apologized I should have responded sincerely and not in spite..despite my views still being what i felt.

Its so hard to speculate now though...being that the 3D model blew it out of the water imho. VFX will be a really big deal, and I expect them to be.

And i hear you, i enjoy writing and getting feedback and bouncing ideas from person to person