Oral Presentations and Performances: Session I

Author Information

Project Type

Presentation - Campus Access Only

Faculty Mentor’s Full Name

Ashley Rezvani

Faculty Mentor’s Department

Game Design & Interactive Media

Abstract / Artist's Statement

Invection is the title of a prototype game I’ve been building within the Unity game engine to explore the implementation of visual effects (VFX). In this presentation I will discuss how I’ve developed Invection and the challenges I’ve learned from when creating a cohesive visual style for the game. Invection uses several outside software, such as Blender and Touchdesigner, and built-in rendering frameworks within the Unity Technologies engine to develop lighting and environmental effects. These effects are linked to the aesthetic quality of the game, and use worldbuilding to communicate to the player a sense of danger and unease. Compared to passive visuals, Invection gives the player the ability to explore and experience the game world. This prototype offers interactive visuals that complement gameplay, centered around the main loop of defeating a boss. This “boss” is the center of these implementations. Its attacks are created through the various systems mentioned before, accented by the implementation of a custom-built arena and lighting to convey that mood.

Creating these effects is challenging because VFX is a multidisciplinary field fragmented across tools and workflows. It's intimidating to work with since it relies on understanding the interactions between numerous different programs working in tandem. This requires technical knowledge to create, and artistic knowledge to deliver correctly. Through this, Invection is about building a cohesive visual style by experimenting with these interactions. It’s a real-time graphics workflow, demonstrating how to translate technical processes into an interactive environment for the player.

Category

Visual and Performing Arts (including Creative Writing)

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Apr 17th, 9:45 AM Apr 17th, 10:00 AM

Invection: Implementation of Visual Effects in the Unity Game Engine

UC 329

Invection is the title of a prototype game I’ve been building within the Unity game engine to explore the implementation of visual effects (VFX). In this presentation I will discuss how I’ve developed Invection and the challenges I’ve learned from when creating a cohesive visual style for the game. Invection uses several outside software, such as Blender and Touchdesigner, and built-in rendering frameworks within the Unity Technologies engine to develop lighting and environmental effects. These effects are linked to the aesthetic quality of the game, and use worldbuilding to communicate to the player a sense of danger and unease. Compared to passive visuals, Invection gives the player the ability to explore and experience the game world. This prototype offers interactive visuals that complement gameplay, centered around the main loop of defeating a boss. This “boss” is the center of these implementations. Its attacks are created through the various systems mentioned before, accented by the implementation of a custom-built arena and lighting to convey that mood.

Creating these effects is challenging because VFX is a multidisciplinary field fragmented across tools and workflows. It's intimidating to work with since it relies on understanding the interactions between numerous different programs working in tandem. This requires technical knowledge to create, and artistic knowledge to deliver correctly. Through this, Invection is about building a cohesive visual style by experimenting with these interactions. It’s a real-time graphics workflow, demonstrating how to translate technical processes into an interactive environment for the player.