Arcane-FX: a spellcasting effects system for Torque

Arcane-FX brings advanced spellcasting effects like those seen in World of Warcraft, and EverQuest II to the Torque Game Engine.

Some of the features:

Flexible Spell System
The flexible spell system can represent a large varied assortment of magic spells: quick instant spells, elaborate conjuring spells, long-lasting buff and de-buff spells, damage over time spells, area effect spells, guided projectile spells, creature summoning spells, resurrection spells, teleportation spells, and more.

Generalized Effects System
A generalized effects system allows many different types of special effects to be controlled using the same method. Explosions, particle emitters, sound effects, animated models, character animations, lights, script events, specialized terrain decals, and others, are all timed and positioned using a common mechanism.

Powerful Constraint System
The position and orientation of any effect can be independently constrained to the casting character, the target character, the spell’s projectile, the projectile’s impact point, as well as any named object in the scene, including specific named nodes of characters and other ShapeBase objects. Effects can even be oriented to face the camera or any other object.

Custom Special Effects
The system includes customized effects including what we call zodiacs, specialized terrain decals that are useful for rune rings, explosion shockwaves, scorched earth stains, and selection indicators.

GUI Enhancements
A number of GUI enhancements improve Torque’s handling of interfaces that make greater use of mouse input for target selection and interface operation. The system also includes specialized GUI controls such as a multi-page spellbank for casting spells.

Sample Spells
Finally, the package includes a large selection of sample spells. These spells, many crafted by Matthew Durante, are complete examples of spells that represent the range of spells typically found in an RPG or MMORPG. Some examples:

• Flame Broil
  A basic fireball spell with some lingering damage over time
• Great Ball of Fire
  A powerful high-level spell which throws a gigantic fireball with correspondingly huge explosion effects.
• Spirit of Roach
  A typical buff spell with a long lasting effect.
• Mapleleaf Frag
  A leafy nature spell that deals direct damage.
• Reaper Madness
  The obligatory resurrection spell.