The VFX files are added now, please see the "projectiles" downloadable file.
Viewing post in HD 8-Directional top-down character pack 1 comments
saw the email a couple mins ago. They look great. A question regarding usability. I expected the tip of projectile to stay in the same relative place in the sprite and for the "tail" to appear/disappear as it travels but right now the projectile itself also moves forward in the sprite. This is for the sprites in "spells" and "arrows". Won't this make collisions harder to make correctly in engine since I'll have to displace the collision or the sprite itself each frame of movement to make them match? Is it possible to have a version in which these are exported with the projectile all the way to the right (since all sprites already have the same size in pixels anyway) and only trail updates to the left? Am I missing something obvious? I don't recall if the non hd projectiles have the same issue (i glanced over them a while ago but haven't used them yet).
EDIT: I just remembered that the issue is worse if you make a spell that follows a target or somehow turns around since if you 180 the spell right now, since it is off-center (because "center" which is the projectile itself keeps moving) the projectile would "jump" position because it would apply the off-center displacement in the other direction, basically rotating around the center. It can be corrected in engine like I said before but seems so much work that can be avoided by a small tweak in the sprites themselves. At least I don't know the advantage of having them like this. Maybe someone can teach me (not sarcasm)
You're absolutely right about your feedback — the projectile animations aren't fixed in place. This design choice allows for built-in visual effects llikemagic trails directly within the sprite, so you don’t need to rely on line or trail renderers. It works well for straightforward, linear projectiles, but I agree it’s not ideal for homing or path-following projectiles that require dynamic movement.
For those types of projectiles, I’d recommend using a particle system or a more modular setup instead. But if your projectiles travel in a straight line, these animations can work nicely — just make sure to destroy the game object on impact and avoid looping the animation.
That said, these projectiles are really more of a bonus — the main focus of the pack is definitely the characters. Thanks again for the thoughtful feedback! If I create new VFX in the future I'll be sure to keep your feedback in mind.
I agree the main focus of the pack are the characters but having these vfx in the same style gives an extra flare to the game while keeping aesthetic cohesion. I was already happy to see these come out as fast they did since your last comment on them. For now I'll probably use a script or the AnimationPlayer to realign the collision with the VFX. If you develop a new export method in the future for a new projectile pack/update that lessens this problem (what i suggested or exporting the projectile and trails separately or something else you come with) consider retrofitting it to older packs. i think even in that case the current way should stay for compatibility for people that will use right now but if there's a new better solution having that as separate option would be great. With that said, I understand that is probably not high in the priority list but would be cool it could be somewhere in the backlog for a future improvement. Thanks for the effects and the reception of feedback.