Nexon Games, the studio behind the successful Blue Archive, has revealed technical details of its new project, Project: RX. This title aims to break the barrier between traditional 3D rendering and 2D animation, using Unreal Engine 5 as its foundation. The team has opted for a pipeline that combines Maya for character modeling, Photoshop for stylized textures, and the powerful Niagara particle system to achieve a real-time animated film aesthetic.
Technical Pipeline: From Maya to Niagara in Real Time 🎨
The production flow of Project: RX inherits the philosophy of Blue Archive, but with higher graphical demands. Assets are sculpted in Maya, prioritizing clean silhouettes and anime proportions. Textures are hand-painted in Photoshop to emulate cel shading, avoiding photorealistic looks. The real challenge lies in the graphics engine: the team uses UE5's Niagara particle system to simulate effects like light glints, magical sparks, and ambient dust, key elements for bringing the world to life. Lighting is handled with Lumen, but a flat color filter is forced to maintain the visual coherence of the 2D style, a process that requires fine-tuning materials to avoid a plastic appearance.
The Render Dilemma: How Far to Imitate 2D? 🤔
Project: RX raises a recurring question in anime game development: how to make a 3D model feel like a cartoon without sacrificing immersion? Nexon Games seems to have opted for a middle ground, using 3D for the camera and depth of field, but applying post-processing effects that distort lines and saturate color. While the use of Niagara adds a layer of detail that traditional 2D cannot offer, the real challenge will be maintaining that cinematic fluidity without performance suffering on current-generation consoles.
How Nexon Games managed to adapt the 2D visual style of Blue Archive to a real-time 3D environment with Unreal Engine 5 without losing the essence of anime in Project RX
(PS: a game developer is someone who spends 1000 hours making a game that people complete in 2)