Gaming Industry Growth Relies on Visual Effects: Walla Walla Studio’s VFX Creation Experience 

If you’re a part of the game industry, you’ve surely noticed how visual effects (VFX) and gaming have become closely linked over the decades. 

VFX, once vital for films and TV, now plays a pivotal role in gaming, enhancing realism and immersion. Visual effects in video games have now revolutionized the gaming experience like never before, creating visually stunning and immersive environments. 

Why the Demand for VFX Is Rising So Fast?

The gaming industry has experienced exponential growth, with revenues projected to reach $196 billion in 2022. This surge has elevated the importance of visual effects in game development. 

VFX plays a crucial role in creating realistic environmental effects and dynamic lighting, enhancing immersive gaming experiences. This fusion of VFX and gaming has sparked innovative approaches, like real-time VFX and virtual production. 

As global revenues are estimated to exceed $200 billion by 2023, the demand for experienced VFX studios rises even more. Advancing gaming technology allows for photorealistic environments and characters, blurring the line between reality and digital art, and encouraging players to come back for games again and again.

The significance of graphics in gaming experiences and the rise of online gaming and esports fuel the need for captivating visuals. Now VFX studios have a unique opportunity to shine and shape the gaming world as technology continues to progress, promising more exciting developments ahead.

Introducing Walla Walla Studio’s VFX Creation Experience

Today we have an opportunity to learn things right from the source and share the insights with you by speaking with Walla Walla Studio’s VFX producer, Igor Shkolniy, who will take us on a fascinating journey into the world of visual effects for games. So, let’s dive right in!

What Visual Effects Walla Walla Studio Is Mostly Working On?

“We specialize in real-time effects using Unity and Unreal Engine. Our VFX primarily focuses on enhancing character animations, such as abilities and skills, in a stylized manner. Like fire breathing, creating various types of smoke, lightning, or some water effects the game characters may be empowered with.

Also, we love working on stylized or semi-stylized environmental effects like blizzards or hurricanes, and lightning. And the studio designs effects for weaponry and combat too. For example, we’ve recently created a flamethrower tower, a cryo bomb, and air strikes.

Additionally, we produce effects for bullets, including muzzle flash, impact, and particles when they hit objects,” –  Igor, the VFX producer, enthusiastically shares Walla Walla Studio’s experience.

What Tools and Technologies Do You Use for VFX Design?

“To bring our particle effects to life, we work with particles and sprite sheets, methods for producing stylized effects. For Unreal Engine, we use Niagara and Cascade, while Unity relies on the Amplify Shader and Unity Shader Graph. These technologies are powerful tools within the engines that help us craft stunning effects.

For realistic simulations and rendering, we use Houdini. This software enables us to recreate real-world behaviors of materials and elements. For instance, we can simulate water in the ocean, building destructions, and realistic fire and smoke.

And of course, we work with other VFX software such as Adobe After Effects, Nuke, AutoDesk Maya, Blender, etc .”

What Are the Current Trends in VFX?

“The trends in gaming visual effects largely depend on the style of the game. For games with stylized art, like League of Legends, there is a preference for highly expressive, hand-drawn effects. And I particularly enjoy such stylized effects created using 2D sprite sheets. This style allows for visually rich and multi-layered effects, especially for elements like fire, which turn out to be stunning and vibrant. 

On the other hand, the trend in realistic games is that the VFX must closely resemble real-life phenomena. For instance, when we developed the realistic flamethrower effect, we broke it down into three parts to make it natural to the maximum: the gas jet before ignition (bluish-white), the bright yellow flames, and finally, the darker tones as the fire blends with smoke during evaporation. The effect itself was stylized, but its nature and behavior were grounded in realism,” – Igor comments on two different trending VFX paths.

Gaming Visual Effects Challenges: VFX Technical Difficulties to Be Aware of 

Like any other field, creating visual effects for games has its own specific challenges and difficulties hidden behind the scenes. In addition to being creative and designing visually appealing effects, you must consider the technical aspects of integrating the effect seamlessly into the game.

Now we’re going to explore the real practical issues VFX developers may face by asking Walla Walla Studio’s producer, Igor Shkolniy, which of the challenges he finds the most noteworthy. 

What Are the Main Technical Challenges Faced During the VFX Creation?

“Technical challenges can vary based on the pipeline and game engine used. Each pipeline has its unique optimizations and limitations regarding the number and complexity of effects. 

For instance, when dealing with particles, we have to be careful not to overload the system with too many of them as they can be resource-intensive.

1. The difficulty #1 lies in achieving visually stunning effects while considering technical constraints. 

For example, when working on a mobile game project, we aim to create visually appealing effects within the limitations of texture sizes, particle counts, and overdraw. The goal is to maintain both beauty and optimal performance on mobile devices.

2. Also, creating the right concept is crucial. It’s point #2. 

Relying solely on references can be challenging as clients might not envision the final outcome clearly. By starting with a well-defined concept, we ensure that the client knows exactly what to expect. We can plan the effect’s development and various stages from the beginning.

3. Another challenge is to always be ready to meet any technical requests from the client. 

For instance, in one of our projects, the client requested effects to be executed using Unreal Cascade, even though Unreal Niagara was a more modern and widely used version. The challenge was to have someone in the studio who could work specifically according to the project’s requirements set by the client. And we got through it, too,” – Igor answers cheerfully.

Optimizing Budget and Time Resources for VFX Creation

Visual effects are typically introduced in the later stages of game development. By that time, developers already have the characters, their animations, and the environments ready. The effects are designed to complement and enhance the overall visual experience. They are supplementary elements rather than the primary focus of the game. 

So, the time for VFX design is always short and limited. As effects are the only features the game needs to obtain before the release date. That’s why we decided to ask Walla Walla Stuio’s VFX producer, Igor Shkolniy, about the details of the resource optimization process of visual effects development.

How Quickly Can You Design Gaming Visual Effects?

“The speed of execution depends on the complexity of the effect. And on the number of VFX artists in your team, of course. It can take anywhere from 1 day to 5 days for creating a single effect. On average, though, it usually takes us at Walla Walla Studio around 2-3 days to complete one effect.”

Time Optimization in VFX Creation Must Be Valuable. Any Insights on That?

“Indeed, having multiple team members working on different effects simultaneously can speed up the process when needed. Don’t be afraid to outsource VFX creation. Many try to handle VFX within their projects but end up overwhelmed by the volume of work. Outsourcing can help unload your team and accomplish more high-quality work in the same timeframe dedicated to VFX production.

Since VFX is typically done towards the end of game development, and a specific release date is set for the game, a significant bottleneck may arise if VFX is not ready. You have to complete a lot of VFX work but have limited time. So, knowing the specifics of VFX being done towards the end, it’s essential to reduce the risks of delays in execution by opting for outsourcing right from the start”, – Igor shares his professional advice.

Are There Budget-Friendly Methods for Creating VFX for Games? 

“You know, the game industry professionals are aware that visual effects tend to be the ones from the most expensive elements in a game, given that the artists who create them are highly skilled and thus costly. VFX is like a premium niche in the world of game art production.

So, VFX is never done “on a budget”. It is not the goal when creating effects, and trying to cut costs on VFX isn’t feasible because it is one of the most expensive aspects of game development. 

The quality of the visuals and effects directly depends on the skill and expertise of the artist working on them. While it’s possible to create some effects on a lower budget, they may end up looking dull and uninteresting. 

The primary goal of the effects is to enhance the game’s visual appeal. Therefore, adding effects that detract from the overall experience is counterproductive. 

We always offer to create high-quality effects at a fair market price, as our studio has specialized professionals in VFX, which are challenging to find in the current market”, – shares Igor.

Communication with Game Players through the VFX

Realism is key to creating effects that resonate with players. If a realistic and impressive effect can’t be achieved, it’s better to avoid it altogether, as players might perceive it as something cheapening the product.

Effects can even hinder the player’s experience if there are too many of them, affecting the visibility, readability, and transparency of the gameplay process. If effects are excessive, improperly placed, or poorly designed, they can directly interfere with the gameplay.

That’s why professional communication with game players through VFX is essential for resonating with your audience.

Summing up 

Visual effects creation is an exhilarating process that has revolutionized the gaming experience, creating visually stunning and immersive worlds. 

At Walla Walla Studio we love creating high-end visual effects for games to make them breathtakingly picturesque, and it’s always rewarding to see our clients proud of these effects as excellent additions to their games.

If you have no experience with VFX production or a lack of time to design VFX or you’re about to venture into it for the first time, we’ll be glad to help you using all our experience and expertise in game and art development. Building the right pipeline for developing effects tailored to your specific situation, we’ll optimize your resources and perfectly meet the deadlines.

We hope our experience can help you make informed decisions and achieve outstanding visual effects for your games.