Dark Veil of Alan Wake 2
Dark Veil is a swirling blur effect that actively spawns in darker, unlit areas of Dark Place and in Overlaps in Alan Wake 2.
It is very characteristic; it is a directional blur with color dispersion and built-in flowing movement. It was built for Alan Wake 2 as an effect that is parallel to what Hiss effect was i Control.
I worked together with my Art Director Janne Pulkkinen and my Lead Johannes Richter to design the artistic base for this effect. I was then in charge of implementing it, including various shaders and Lua tools and systems for other artists to use; in the end, thanks to this, the Dark Veil was used in many, many different effects - Barriers, shields, enemies and their special abilities, ambiance...
The ambiance Dark Veil effect in Dark Place was a collaborative effort - I made a background "Dark Veil filter" and my colleague Damian Olechowski implemented a GPU particle system that drives the swirly motion of Dark Veil in front.
The first impression of Dark Place - a damp city where darkness smears the reality away like its a hallucination on the periphery of the screen - that is Dark Veil!
Dark Veil automatically spawns from dark spots and peripherals, swirling around like underwater tides.
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