Can anyone recommend any specific techniques, tools, or tutorials for the following things within the Unreal universe?
1.) Making cool looking 3d card assets and effects
2.) Holographic & layered card effects when you rotate or move a card
3.) Proper card animations, like glowing or highlighting or destroying (flame, explosions, etc)
See examples of what I mean below.
I’ve been learning Unreal Engine to make card games, and here is where I am at so far:
Create card objects & rough proof of concept card assets using Photoshop & Unreal Engine Widgets + Actors
Create game logic, drag and drop, clicking, key presses, basic UI/UX/HUDs, etc
Get Basic multiplayer networking and replication working
Create very basic card movement/shuffle/deal/etc animations
Create high quality looking card animations, effects, holographics, etc (I’d like to learn how to do this now)
Create high quality looking environments/boards/materials/lighting (I’d like to learn how to do this now)
I feel like those two items above are critically missing in my indie dev skillset. I’d like to start learning them now.
Here are some examples of really well done card animations from various video games. Obviously, armys of people with decades of experience worked on these. I’m not expecting to be this good. I’d like to just learn enough to be dangerous and get a fraction of the way there. Being realistic.
Marvel Snap:
Pokemon TCG Pocket:
Hearthstone:
What I see when I look at these:
1.) Each card has several layers each to make them jump off the screen.
2.) Cool lighting effects going on.
3.) Particle emitters
4.) Maybe I need to learn how to make some shiny looking materials that reflect light to make holographic effects?
My research so far suggests that I need to learn the following, but please let me know if I’m on the right path or if I’m missing or misinterpreting something.
- Create custom Materials (emissive, fresnel, dissolves).
- Niagara VFX (for particle emitters?). I haven’t used this yet.
- Lighting, I know absolutely nothing about lighting. What lighting techniques should I use for card games?
- Shaders? I know very little about these. Are they just effects you apply to your materials? I need to research them more.
Is there anything here I’m missing? Or any techniques, tools, or tutorials you guys specifically recommend?
Thank you!