Unusual Effect: Wandering Wisps

Promotional video created by Steam user Purpl (https://steamcommunity.com/id/Purple_Gaming/)

An in-game demonstration of "Fiery Fiends"

"Fiery Fiends", as rendered in-engine using Source Filmmaker.

"Fiery Fiends", as rendered in-engine using Source Filmmaker.

An in-game demonstration of "Poisoned Phantoms"

"Poisoned Phantoms", as rendered in-engine using Source Filmmaker.

"Poisoned Phantoms", as rendered in-engine using Source Filmmaker.

An in-game demonstration of "Shadowy Spectres"

"Shadowy Spectres", as rendered in-engine using Source Filmmaker.

"Shadowy Spectres", as rendered in-engine using Source Filmmaker.

An in-game demonstration of "Alluring Apparitions"

"Alluring Apparitions", as rendered in-engine using Source Filmmaker.

"Alluring Apparitions", as rendered in-engine using Source Filmmaker.

An early in game look at the effect. This was before the "wisps" were turned into small ghosts, and instead featured long meteor like trails snaking upwards.

A close to final look at the effect, both in the editor and in-game. The "fire snakes" have been replaced with small, tadpole shaped "wisps", and given an animated eye sprite for detail and design appeal.

Vote for the item here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2198498890

This was a collection of particle effects I created for consideration for use in Valve Software's "Team Fortress 2", as part of the "Scream Fortress 2020" update. The goal for this project was to create a appealing Halloween-themed special effect that players could have a chance to obtain on any one of their taunts when they unboxed a loot crate. I took inspiration from various "Will-o-the-wisp" designs I spent time researching and applied them towards the creation of my own design, a particle system that emulates fiery wisps rising from glowing clouds of ash. This was then iterated on during development, shortening the trail and adding an animated eye sprite to each "wisp", giving the system emotion and depth.

The total time of development was about 2 weeks from start to publishing on the Steam Workshop. The particle system consists of four color variations, each consiting of 9 unique subsystems under 1 parent, with a maximum of 600 particles on screen at any given time, and an average of 350-400.

I was in charge of everything you see here besides the promotional video, which was made by Steam user Purpl (https://steamcommunity.com/id/Purple_Gaming)

Album
Date
January 26, 2021