Powerup Shader

To build upon the foundations of our games mechanics, we worked to develop various powerups which break up, and aim to change the flow of gameplay. I strived to create a pickup, suiting the purpose of a randomised pickup.

To display the randomisation of said powerup, an irregular texture pans upwards; alongside a pulsating multitude of colours. The constant change in colour and texture, reinforces the changing possibilty of said powerup. To finalise this, a simple question mark hovers within. So the question mark isn't obscured by the surrounding spherical mesh, "Disable Depth Test" is enabled within it's material parameters-- usually Unreal tests the depth value of a fragment against the content of the depth buffer. A depth test is performed and if this test passes, the fragment is rendered and the depth buffer is updated with the new depth value. If the depth test fails, the fragment is discarded. Disabling this test, causes the question mark to be rendered in front of everything else.

Additionaly, few adjustments were made to further the finalised look of the powerup. For example, a more exaggerated cell shading is used, helping to break the silhouette from the surrounding environment. Dynamic toon shading is also implemented, this works in conjuction with Niagara to change a parameter over time. In this case its where the toon shading sits upon the model.

Niagara allowed for all three components, the glow, question mark and sphere to be easily compiled together, and allow the possibilty of dynamic parameters. However, we did have issues with the Niagara System moving within world space -- a necessity as the powerup follows the barriers position. This was quickly fixed by enabling "Local Space" within the Niagara Systems properties.

I did attempt a different variation of this powerup, but it didn't visually convey the purpose of the powerup. I mainly wanted to attempt faking parralax, and see if it could be applied somehow within our game.

References