Glowing pumpkin eyes and all things nice..

I am a bit late to the party, but Autumn is officially here!! Which means it’s finally time for the annual ritual of pumpkin gutting and putting cinnamon in everything from coffee to candles.

This is subjectively THE best season of the year, everything turns into the most pretty shades of red and orange, you can burrito roll up in a big fluffy blanket, and drink gallons of tea without getting a heat stroke – winner! 🍂🌯🍵.

First up, obviously the poster child for fall-y goodness and spookiness: the Halloween pumpkin.
These were surprisingly easy to make and really fun because you can be really creative here. Bonus point: no disgusting stringy pumpkin innards to remove 😁.

Also, check out these fun light casting effects against other objects in the level. (If it turns out using actual lights in the pumpkins is too expensive, I might have to swap their innards over to an emissive material instead).

The next thing that is a fall must-have is some nice cosy hot drinks, ideally accessorized with a blob of cream or a handful of marshmallows 😁.

To convey the steamy goodness of the drink, we also added some steam clouds in the engine with a small Niagara effect.

Now last but not least, we of course snug for our characters as well, so I used the opportunity to play around with some new outfits. Definitely an area I could sink a ton of time into, and while it still needs a lot of improvement (especially in the skirt area), I am quite happy with our updated Fall outfit… for now.

I, personally, really like the yellow and red combo for the extra autumnal feel, but for those that despise yellow (I know you are out there, I see you 😉) I also added a cream white version of the jumper. The idea later in the game is that for most clothes you can choose the color yourself, or at least pick from a range of predefined versions.

I even made a small video showcasing some of the new bits and bobs.

There is so much more to add and do, but indulging in making some specific autumnal things is a nice change of pace in between other more technical things and they tend to be more shareable than a blob of code.

Next time, either more technical mumbo jumbo or something about reference gathering, but for now:
bye bye and have a lovely day! 👋