Creating Whispers of Starlight has been a detailed process, using various tools to bring the game to life. Here’s how I did it:

Choosing the Engine:

I used Unreal Engine 5.2.1 instead of Unity because it allows me to implement animated Normal maps on the character sprites to better capture the light from the environment.

Animating Characters:

I used Clip Studio to animate both the characters and their Normal maps together. This ensures the lighting effects look natural and consistent.

Enhancing Sprites:

After animating, I exported the sequences as PNG files and imported them into After Effects. There, I added depth to the colors and applied Anti-Aliasing to smooth out the sprites.

Importing to Unreal Engine:

With the sprites ready, I imported them into Unreal Engine. The engine automatically reads both the Diffuse and Normal maps from the sprites.

Creating Custom Materials:

I made a custom material in Unreal Engine that uses the Normal map to add Rim lighting effects, capturing the light around the characters.