I was a senior animator on this interactive mobile game centered around renovating an island resort! My role in Unity was to create vertex-driven animations of 2D sprites with particle effects to produce a satisfying, visually cohesive effect as the play advances through the game's narrative.
Build Animations
Bloom Animations
Clear / Pick Up Animations
Special Animations
Splash Effect (for build objects placed in water)
Bloom/Build Hybrid Effect
Style System
I produced a style system to divide effect types, keeping them specific to the kind of task the player is doing. Throughout the game, the player cleans and picks up old objects and builds/plants new things!
These effect types determine the vertex animation material used for the sprite animation. Built objects drop and bounce, bloom objects scale and rotate slightly, removed objects either scale and fade or lift and fade.
Build
Additive for Non-Organics
Bloom
Additive for Organics
Pick Up
Subtractive for Non-Organics
Clear
Subtractive for Organics
These standardized effect types also determine which Particle Effect building blocks are a part of the animation.
Particle Effect Building Blocks
Rising Leaves
Bloom Wisp
Confetti
Smoke
Sparkles
Build Poof
Bloom Poof
Splash
Effect types were enforced with a naming system for our materials, textures, and animations that reflected the type with a representative prefix. Having individual tweakable materials and animation clips allowed me to customize animations to each asset while still keeping them visually cohesive.