Five anime-style gameplay skill effects for Unreal Engine 5.8, built in Niagara: a weapon enchant, a frost trap, a storm call, a tornado and a curse mark. Each is a full cycle (anticipation, release, impact) driven by a drag-and-drop Blueprint with colour / size controls and gameplay events.

Requirements: Unreal Engine 5.8. Only two engine plugins are used, Niagara and Engine Cameras (camera shakes); both are enabled by default. No C++, no input mappings, no project settings needed.

Sound included. 19 sounds (section 5), played by the Niagara systems themselves on the exact beat of each effect, including four looping beds for the sustained effects. One switch (bEnableSound) turns an effect's sound off; any beat can be replaced by your own sound on the Blueprint.

Quick start (60 seconds)

  1. Press Play in the demo. Open Maps/Demo/L_StylizedSkillFX_Demo_Vol4 and press Play. Keys 1–5 cast each effect at the five dummies; every archetype event prints on screen (Cast started, Released, Hit <Actor>, Finished). WASD + mouse move and look. (Maps/L_StylizedSkillFX_Overview_Vol4 shows every effect on its own labelled station, repeating.)
  2. Use an effect: drag and drop. Drag Blueprints/<Effect>/BP_FX_<Archetype>_<Effect> (for example Blueprints/StormCallLightning/BP_FX_Storm_StormCallLightning) into your level and press Play. In Details → 3 · Look untick Use Default Look to recolour it (Main Color, Secondary Color), resize it (Scale) or change its glow (Glow Intensity).
  3. Gameplay. Bind OnImpact (Hit Actor, Hit Location) for your own logic, or override the hook function in a child (the default applies damage). Call Cast() / Cancel() on a pre-placed actor (untick Cast On Begin Play), or spawn it with Spawn Actor from Class. BP_FX_DemoCaster_Vol4 in the demo level is a complete, commented example for all five.

1. What is in this version

# Effect What it does Niagara systems (Niagara/<Effect>/) Blueprint to drag (Blueprints/<Effect>/)
16 Weapon Enchant · Fire sets a weapon ablaze; every swing draws a burning crescent, every hit bursts FXS_WeaponEnchantFire_Loop, _Swing, _Hit BP_FX_Enchant_WeaponEnchantFire
17 Frost Trap · Ice a faint rune on the floor; whoever steps on it is caged in ice crystals, which shatter after the hold FXS_FrostTrapIce_Armed, _Prison, _Shatter BP_FX_Trap_FrostTrapIce
18 Storm Call · Lightning a storm cloud gathers over an area, lightning hammers it (biased toward targets), a finale strike FXS_StormCallLightning_Storm, _Strike, _Impact BP_FX_Storm_StormCallLightning
19 Tornado · Wind a funnel forms, travels (direction, spline path or seek), catches and buffets what it touches, unravels FXS_TornadoWind_Loop, _Impact BP_FX_Tornado_TornadoWind
20 Curse Mark · Dark brands a target and binds it in chains; it bites every second, stacks, and fades or detonates FXS_CurseMarkDark_Loop, _Tick, _Detonate BP_FX_Curse_CurseMarkDark

Each effect also has a showcase map Maps/Demo/L_StylizedSkillFX_Showcase_<Effect> and a 60 fps Level Sequence Sequences/LS_<Effect>. The numbers are series numbers: Vol.1 holds 01–04 and 09, Vol.2 05–08 and 10, Vol.3 11–15, Vol.4 16–20; every volume installs into the same folder.

New in v1.1.2 (Fab review of Vol.3): the demo key-legend widget is now BP_FX_DemoLegendWidget (every Blueprint class uses BP_); every static mesh stores 2 UV channels (UV 1 = a non-overlapping lightmap layout, Light Map Coordinate Index 1); the listing states the exact texture count (44). Effects, materials and Niagara systems are unchanged.

New in v1.1.1 (Fab review fixes): every Blueprint now uses the BP_ prefix, camera shakes included (Blueprints/<Effect>/BP_CameraShake_...; the CameraShakes/ folder is gone). Each showcase map plays its effect on a loop when you press Play and explains itself with an editor-only SHOWCASE board. Also: START HERE text, generated lightmap UVs on the shared meshes, no unused default nodes in BP_FX_Target / BP_FX_ShowcaseGameMode. Every map was re-tested: load, Play, Stop at random moments - 0 errors, 0 warnings.

New in v1.1: drag-and-drop Blueprints with colour / size controls and the shared gameplay events (OnCastStarted, OnCastReleased, OnImpact, OnFinished, Cast(), Cancel()) on all five bases, every coloured layer follows the colour controls, Low–Epic quality levels on every system, smoother transitions (every handoff between systems shares a frame; no blinks), a playable demo level, and the folder layout / naming pass (FXS_, BP_ (1.1.1: camera shakes too), LS_, L_StylizedSkillFX_*).

2. Folder layout

Content/StylizedSkillFX/
  Blueprints/
    Shared/        BP_FX_Enchant, BP_FX_Trap, BP_FX_Storm, BP_FX_Tornado, BP_FX_Curse (bases, abstract),
                   BP_FX_WeaponDummy (a swinging sword stand), BP_FX_Target (dummy), BP_FX_ShowcaseGameMode,
                   BP_FX_DemoCaster_Vol4, BP_FX_DemoLegendWidget
    <Effect>/      BP_FX_<Archetype>_<Effect>          <- drag this into a level
                   BP_CameraShake_<Effect>_<Beat>  (Hit, Trigger / Shatter, Strike / Finale, Catch, Detonate)   camera shake(s)
  Maps/            L_StylizedSkillFX_Overview_Vol4     every effect on a labelled station (START HERE board)
    Demo/          L_StylizedSkillFX_Demo_Vol4         playable demo (keys 1-5)
                   L_StylizedSkillFX_Showcase_<Effect> Press Play: the effect loops (+ its Level Sequence)
  Materials/
    Masters/       M_StylizedFX_Master / _Ribbon / _Void / _Refract, M_FX_Floor, M_FX_Label
    Shared/        MI_FX_Spark, MI_FX_Sword, MI_FX_TargetDummy
    Labels/        MI_FX_Label_*  (overview floor labels, START HERE board)
    <Effect>/      MI_<Effect>_*   (TornadoWind also holds M_TornadoWind_Sheath, the funnel's own material)
  Meshes/          SM_FX_Plane, SM_FX_Sphere, SM_FX_Sword
    FrostTrapIce/  SM_FX_IceSpike (+ _B, _C), SM_FX_IceStump_A / _B   (particle meshes)
    TornadoWind/   SM_FX_Funnel                                       (particle mesh)
  Niagara/
    EffectTypes/   EFT_StylizedSkillFX (one-shot systems), EFT_StylizedSkillFX_Sustained (the looping ones)
    <Effect>/      FXS_<Effect>_*
  Sequences/       LS_<Effect>
  Textures/
    Shared/        T_*  greyscale masks and noises
    Labels/        T_Label_*
    <Effect>/      the effect's own masks (T_Curse_*, T_Chain_Link, T_Frost_Sigil, T_Ice_*, T_Wind_Bands)

Every effect uses the same <Effect> sub-folder name in every type folder. The shared files (Shared/, Materials/Masters/, Meshes/, Niagara/EffectTypes/, the START HERE label) are byte-identical in every volume, so installing several volumes never overwrites anything with different content. The zip holds only what the maps use.

3. Gameplay Blueprints

Every base works the same way. Place or spawn its per-effect child; its Details panel is grouped, every variable has a tooltip (hover it), and the effect's systems are visible as FX_* components with an editor preview in the Blueprint viewport.