The Problem:

The buff models/actors needed a new look. They were just a basic particle system (PS) because I was spending most of my effort on getting them operational. But once that was done I was notching issues with the actors, the collisions were a little odd, there was no information about what the buff was, so you'd have to learn the color of the PS and shape to figure out which was what. The UI dev had already made UI for when you picked it up. But that was an extra step that I felt would slow the speed of the game down.

The Solution:

I went into blender and made a new model to better match the theme of the game. I made a Hexagonal Base and still use the PS to create a flow up, which connects to a UI that will Dynamically generate the information based on the buff. This will now allow the player to know what the buff is and does before picking it up. They will no longer have to pick it up, pull up the buff menu, then decide if they want this buff. It will keep the speed of the game moving forward without adding in any extra steps for the player to progress.

**First picture is the old buff actors
**Second picture is the current without information loaded
**Third pic is with information loaded
***All are subject to change, this is not a necessarily the final product.

author: Dewayne Hicks
posted on 10/10/23