Based on the card “Spell Swindle” from Magic: The Gathering, I interpreted the static card art and made an animated visual effect showcase. Original Card and art by Victor Adame Minguez and Wizards of the Coast.
Process
Setup
It all started with the official card and art. When referencing this card, I wanted to focus on replicating the visual effect of having a spells’ projectiles converted into a physical token of some kind.
Before working on the actual interactive effects, I needed to set up the scene to allow for showcasing my ability to make real-time effects while still staying somewhat faithful to the card itself. I started by isolating the background of the card using Photoshop. This would allow me to place in an animated character.
with the background in place, I downloaded a character and a couple of animations from Mixamo (idle and casting). I used these elements to set the scene in a similar way to the art on the card.
Once all were in the scene, I configured the character with an animator component and a script that triggered animations on mouse click. I added animation events to trigger the visual effects.
VFX
The effect itself is split into three parts: The projectiles striking the spell swindle, the spell swindle itself, and the impacts that happen after
Projectiles
I thought it’d be fun to make lightning as an experiment. I used a particle system and trails to make the lightning itself.
The Spell Swindle Itself
I decided to change the shape of the spell swindle to a bubble. I imagined this character inside of a MOBA for some reason, so the sphere just felt right for me. I used a glass shader and Fresnel shader to achieve this.
Together, they look warm and protective 🙂
Impacts
Now that both the swindle and the lightning particles in place, I configured sub emitters to trigger when the lightning particles hit the spell swindle. These sub emitters spawned tokens and left behind a temporary light source, to show where the impacts hit the barrier. I also modeled and textured coins for this effect.
Final Touches
I added the card and foreground elements of the card art to the scene using as UI elements so they’d be rendered last, on top of everything else.
I also added bloom and color adjustments with post processing.
YouTube video for higher quality:
Angraj Singh Game Design Portfolio 