(Posted originally on our blog)

Hi guys!

For the past couple of weeks, we've been working on adding some details into the game, mainly in the form of Visual effects.

We never really gave any attention to these before (as you can probably notice on Stellar Interface), so we are taking our time to get to know everything we need to know about Shaders, Particles, and overall VFX composition.

It's still the first iteration but we think that we are getting there, the character movement looks way more interesting than it looked before we added the effects, and the dust effects really solidify visually that Oirbo is actually in those platforms.

The gif above shows pretty much all the work we've done this past couple of weeks. We added effects to all player possible actions, starting off with the jump, we have 2 different effects in play, first, a cloud of dust comes out of oirbo feet, you can notice that this effect varies depending on if it's moving or not. If Oirbo is standing still the dust cloud spreads around in a semi-circle shape, but if the player is moving the dust follows the player direction on jump thus giving the effect of movement and the floor dust displacement. 

The other effect we have in the jump is a simple dust trail, that completes the overall effect, there isn't much explanation for this besides a wow factor, but one could also stay that it cements the overall animation and perception that the jump required a huge force by Oirbo.

When Oirbo falls down, we added some sparks to emphasize its weight, we also made a system that dynamically deploys a certain number of sparks depending on its downforce, basically, the faster it falls down the more sparks it will release on touching the floor. We also made sure to have a threshold where no sparks are deployed, this helps sell that some jumps hit Oirbo harder than others and also avoid a constant deploy of sparks on platform sections, where they could get a bit distracting.

The double jump, this one is the most complex so far, it has 4 different components, the base, the trail, the ripple, and the sparks. The base as explained in the lore is a type of spacial control, one of the skills Oirbo will be able to unlock, this enables it to create a platform wherever it needs. The trail is very similar to the one used in the jump but shorter, the blue sparks and the ripple serve as a way to boost the "platform creation" effect. 

Finally, the dash is what you would expect, a super quick and visually powerful effect that helps to sell the speed of the movement, this one is not yet 100% complete, but you can get a taste as is.

In the art department, we got this one, a new enemy for the upcoming medical area, we are finally starting creating new content \o/.

Still, this week we should be focusing on adding the final touches to the character and world effects and next week we hopefully will start the floor plan for the medical area!!!!!

What do you guys think of this new medical area enemy? Let us know in the comments below!