How to do Elaborate fx sequences

Development Asset Creation FX
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Hi

I’v been toying around with Unreal Engine now for a while, just to get a feel for it.

Now i’ve decided to try an do something more complex, and i’m looking for some input on how to get started. Not looking for someone to tell me exactly what to do, as i do enjoy solving problems myself, instead i’m looking for some pointers on how to best approach the problem.

Some preface: I’m thinking about on how to best create something like the Final Fantasy VII summons/Limit breaks (FFVIII, IX and X too just for reference).

So basically some way to:

  1. Allow for camera movements around a char (not a specific one, most be able to be selected runtime)

    • These should be reusable, so that you would only need to create one sequence for a camera doing a 360 around a char, zoom in on a char and so on)

  2. Spawn particle effects, meshes etc. at specific times.

  3. Play different animations on either spawned actors or existing actors (think caster and target, i.e. casting animation, taking damage animation, other animations)

  4. Play sounds a specific times

  5. Send out events during the sequence (to deal damage, and so on)

Now looking at the above, sequencer seems the logical choice, it does most of, if not all of the above. the alternative is using timelines (which may or may not do all of the above)

So my questions is:

  1. is Sequencer a good way to go about this, and if so how would you set it up. My main concern is with the reuseability. Can the camera movements be designed so that i can play them relative to an actor (which is should be selectable runtime).

  2. Can sequencer do logical checks, say check a bool and do seperate things based on this. Or should that be handled in a blue print, and the Sequences be split into smaller once (think Squalls limit break from FFVIII where you need to input commands at specific times and then if done correctly will play different sequences)

  3. Let’s say we have a side view of the battle view 3 actors for the party members. Would it be possible to make one sequence that plays an animation on an actor, and just save this once, and then activate it via blueprint and play on one of these actors.

I would really like to avoid having to create all the sequences in all the “battle scenes” which i imagine is going to be seperate levels. But just once and then reuse them.