Personal VFX study, 2026
Erlangmon VFX
A compact character-effects package built around clear combat timing, reusable materials, and a mobile-friendly render budget.
- Role
- VFX and Technical Artist
- Target
- Mobile stylized RPG
- Built with
- Unreal Engine, Niagara, Blender
What I built
I treated the brief as a small production pipeline rather than a single effect. The result combines three readable VFX systems with a shared shading setup and timing controls that can be tuned without rebuilding each variant.
Buff aura
A ground decal, spear-tip beam, and expanding rings give the buff a readable silhouette without hiding the character.
Skill slash
A straight-UV slash mesh combines a cyan core, eroded gold edge, and a brief wolf-head flash for a clear impact beat.
Character shading
An unlit master material layers cel shading, Fresnel rim light, and scrolling noise so the character and effects share one visual language.
Technical decisions
One control path for timing and color
Slash variants share a global color curve, while gameplay timing offsets the attack effects by 1.31 seconds to meet the animation contact point. Buff effects remain immediate, so each gameplay event keeps its intended response.
Mobile-aware geometry and overdraw
Tight slash and ring meshes reduce unused translucent coverage. I checked the result with Unreal's Shader Complexity and Overdraw views, then kept the effect layers focused on the silhouette and impact frames that matter most.
Next pass
I would push the electricity around the spear tip, test cheaper blend modes where the silhouette allows it, and give the final color and timing curves one more polish pass. Those changes would add energy without making the effect busier.