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.
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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