Author death effects, hit sparks, AOE visuals, and telegraphs.
Visual Effects (VFX)
Every flashy moment in combat — a mob bursting on death, a spell's impact spark, the glowing ring that warns of an incoming AoE — is a VFX definition you can author and reuse. There's a single canonical VFX editor, and everything that plays an effect (mobs, NPCs, abilities, AoE telegraphs) simply points at a shared definition, so tuning one effect updates every place it's used.
The VFX Library
VFX definitions live in the asset tools and are referenced by id across the game. The engine ships editable defaults for the common moments — for example default.death_burst, default.hit, default.aoe, and default.telegraph. These aren't hard-coded: they're real definitions you can open and restyle, so even the "procedural placeholder" look is yours to change.
What You Can Author
A VFX definition describes how an effect looks and animates — particles, sprites, colors, scale, and timing — and previews live in the editor as you edit it.
Effects are wired in wherever they play:
| Where | Field | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Mobs | deathVfxId | Plays when the mob dies (falls back to default.death_burst) |
| NPCs | deathVfxId | Plays when the NPC dies |
| Abilities | telegraphVfxId | Ground indicator drawn during wind-up, sized to the AoE shape |
| Abilities | castVfxId / projectileVfxId / impactVfxId / channelVfxId | Wind-up flare, traveling projectile, on-hit burst, sustained channel |
Using the VFX Editor
Open it from Asset Manager → VFX Editor. It's a layer-based compositor — three columns: the layer list, a canvas preview + timeline, and the inspector for the selected layer. A definition has a name, a category, a canvas size, a duration, and a loop toggle.
Build from layers
Add layers with the + menu. There are 12 layer types:
| Layer | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Particle | The workhorse — sparks, smoke, embers. Circle or sprite-flipbook particles, emitter shape (point / circle / rect / ring / line / cone), count, lifetime, speed, direction, scale & alpha over life, color start→end, gravity, rotation |
| Sprite | A single animated sprite |
| Flash | A quick color flash (fade in/out) |
| Shake | Screen/target shake (intensity, frequency, decay) |
| Tint | Recolor the scene briefly |
| Trail | A motion trail |
| Distortion | Wave / ripple / twist / pixelate warping |
| Beam | A beam between two points |
| Decal | A ground mark that sits under characters |
| Sound | Play a clip (VFX layers carry no audio otherwise) |
| Effekseer | An imported .efk effect (see below) |
| Light | A real point light in the game's lighting engine — color, radius, intensity, flicker |
Tune each layer
The inspector gives every layer Timing (start + duration), a Blend mode (normal / add / multiply / screen / overlay), an optional Shader post-pass (run a Shader Editor definition over just this layer), and its Parameters in Basic or Advanced mode. In Advanced mode you can add Keyframes to animate a parameter over time with easing (linear / easeIn / easeOut / step).
Timeline & preview
Each layer is a draggable block on the timeline — move it, trim its start/end, scrub the playhead. Play / Pause / Restart the preview. A performance meter estimates particle cost (green / amber / red) so you don't ship an effect that tanks the frame rate.
Start from a template
Rather than a blank canvas, click Start from a template for parametric recipes with linked "knobs," or apply a Spell Preset (replace or append its layers). Great for getting 80% of the way to a fire or holy effect instantly.
Bind it to abilities
The editor can bind the current effect directly to an ability's Cast / Projectile / Impact / Channel stage (multi-select) without leaving the VFX editor. Save stores the definition (searchable to load or duplicate later).
> The Export button currently saves a still PNG snapshot of the canvas, not an animated GIF — treat it as a thumbnail, not a full export.
AOE Telegraphs
Telegraphs deserve special mention: for any area ability, the server broadcasts the telegraph before the AoE resolves, so players get a fair window to move out. The telegraph is authored just like any other VFX and is automatically shaped to the ability's AoE shape (circle, cone, line, ring, etc.). Boss and mob encounters use the same telegraph system for their heavy attacks.
Importing RPG Maker / RPG Tools Effects (Effekseer)
RPG Maker MZ/MV and RPG Tools author their battle effects with Effekseer, and shipped them as .efkefc files. You can import those folders directly (Database → Import) — every .efkefc becomes a normal VFX definition you can wire up anywhere a VFX goes, and the engine plays it with Effekseer's real runtime rather than an approximation.
Add one to any definition as an Effekseer layer, then pick an imported effect (or paste a .efkefc URL). Effekseer layers mix freely with the built-in particle/sprite layers in the same definition.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Scale | 1 is the size the effect was authored at. RPG Maker effects are full-screen battle animations, so they're deliberately big at 1 — scale down to fit an isometric game. |
| Speed | Playback rate (RPG Maker's animation speed). |
| Rotate X/Y/Z | Orientation, matching RPG Maker's animation rotation. |
| Mirror | Flips horizontally, as RPG Maker does for the opposing side. |
Things worth knowing:
- Keep the folder together. An effect resolves its
Model/andTexture/files by relative path, so the importer preserves the folder layout. Uploading a lone.efkefcgives you an effect with no textures. - Effekseer effects carry no sound. Add a Sound layer alongside for audio — RPG Maker works the same way (its animations keep sound in a separate timing track, not in the effect file).
- They draw over the scene. Effekseer renders after the world, so effects appear on top of characters rather than sorting between them — the same as RPG Maker's battle animations. Use the built-in decal layer for something that must sit under characters on the ground.
Tips
- Because effects are shared by id, build a small palette of house-style effects (a "fire" impact, a "holy" impact) and reuse them rather than making a bespoke effect per ability.
- Leave
deathVfxId/telegraphVfxIdunset to inherit the editable engine defaults — then restyle the default once to reskin everything at once. - Effects follow their target as it moves and stay put when the camera pans, so an effect attached to a walking character rides along with it.