Blog Post #10 (21)

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This week, Discovery Park started to feel like an actually pretty place (even with only a few props).

This week was about pushing that further by introducing visual atmosphere and environmental guidance through VFX.

Using Unreal Engine’s Niagara system, emissive materials, and volumetric fog, I began shaping how the player feels and reads the gamespace.

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Instead of treating VFX as just decoration, I approached them as design tools and chose three VFX systems (each with their own custom emissive materials) to implement with specific purposes:

1. Hanging Ambient Particles (Atmosphere)

I created a subtle floating particle system to give the environment motion and depth.

• Low spawn rate for performance
• Soft blue emissive material for gentle glow
• Long lifetime for continuity

This makes the space feel less empty and more alive (as well as give some “oooooh, ahhhhhhh” factor).

2. Fountain Effect (NPC)

I created a spiral Niagara system encompassing the NPC to act as a small environmental guidance feature.

• Continuous swirl motion tied to the NPC’s location
• Yellow custom emissive material
• Adds life around the NPC

3. Confetti Burst (Interaction Feedback)

I also built and wired into the Blueprints a Niagara effect that triggers when the player interacts with the lever!

• Attached directly to the lever Blueprint
• Activates on interaction
• Short, readable bright burst

Wait Will This Even Run?

Before pushing further, I tested performance using:

• stat fps
• stat niagara

If you do not check this while implementing heavier workflows like VFX, you could easily end up with a lagging game. However, for my checks, everything remained stable, confirming the systems were lightweight enough to keep!

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Though not a Niagara system, I also introduced volumetric fog and light beams, allowing light to exist in space instead of just on surfaces.

Light beams add a stronger sense of atmosphere as well as depth to an environment.

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The final piece of this milestone was to give my interactive lever an emissive material of its own to help the mesh act as a focal point. This is important because guiding players through environmental elements-like glowing objects-is a strong way to provide direction without heavy UI.

Instead of telling the player what to do, the level now shows them:

• The lever glows softly
• Bloom enhances visibility
• It naturally stands out as important

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Not going to lie…adding particles and glowing lights is just fun.

More importantly, this is the first time the level has started to feel like something mysterious and interesting to explore.

I had always heard of VFX like it was a big, scary concept that was difficult to understand, let alone implement in a game engine. After this week, I now feel confident adding VFX into future game projects of mine.

Like most things, it feels scarier before you cross the river…then you realize it wasn’t so bad after all. 🙂

Until next time,

~Lauren

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