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Spherica

Adding the first Niagara system

My first foray into building a Niagara particle system from scratch — laser bursts from descending aliens, with a second emitter for impact debris.

By Adam 1 min read

Alien craft firing glowing laser bolts at the Spherica turret against a sunset sky

Today was my first foray into Niagara systems. Although I’m already using some for explosions, this was one I configured from scratch.

As the aliens descend, they will fire off short laser bursts which will contribute to the player’s damage. In this example video, though, they’re firing constantly just so I can capture the effect.

Laser trails and impact debris from the new Niagara system

I’m not sure yet if the pawn actor can register any of the particle hits in a collider sense. I’m also not sure if I really need to. I could, for example, make the assumption that if the alien is firing (which would be random) then the pawn is suffering damage.

However, the Niagara system has two emitters, the second of which responds to collisions on the first, providing the effect of pieces of damage flying off the target. It needs some tweaking, but it’s a start.