"When we established Colony Studios, it was important
our dev team be able to hit the ground running -- we weren't in a position
to spend time developing our own technology. Therefore, we wanted to mitigate
our overall risk and go with a cutting edge and solid piece of middleware
tech. We spent time evaluating existing middleware solutions such as Unreal,
BigWorld, Multiverse, and others, but decided upon the HeroEngine for its
ease of use, strength of technology, and ease of content creation."
Mike Wallis, Colony Studios
Particle System
Modify any particle in real-time and instantly view the results inside the HeroBlade Client.
Great games need great effects! HeroEngine features a robust parametric particle system for delivering the stunning visuals you need. Particles can be anything from camera-facing billboard textures to fully animated 3D objects. Emitter types include point and volume, and can even be controlled by a texture!
Emitters can be particles too, and particles can emit other particles when they expire, creating fantastic chaining and other effects.
No need to move to another tool and then try and sync things up later, it's all done in one place, all live and collaborative! With HeroBlade, you can have an entire team working simultaneously on an overall effect, bringing together your artists, world builders, and technical team for maximum impact.
FX System
Utilizing HeroEngine's node-based particle system, a multi-tiered particle
like the one shown above can easily have different behaviors applied.
A strong particle system is a start, but it takes a lot more than that to author a complete special effect. Enter the HeroEngine FX System, an event-based effect sequencing system. With the FX System, you can composite together particles, lights, audio, animations, motion, and more into full blown spell effects, cinematic sequences, or whatever you envision!
The FX System can handle complex effects with no scripting. String together all of your audio and visuals, handle complex concepts like sequencing and chaining with ease.
All of this is done dynamically and live in the HeroBlade tool. Drag new event
nodes into your chain from the palette, adjust some settings and hit the Preview
button. When you are satisfied, pass it off to your game system team for integration
into your custom combat system.
