Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes | eric-yijiao-zhang

obi-wan EVENT PROMOTIONAL VIDEO

Game Title: Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
Skills: Motion Graphics design, VFX, Compositing, 3D Modeling, 3D Texturing & Shading, Lighting, Cinematic Capture, Video Editing
Tools: Cinema 4D, Unity, Photoshop, After Effects

FINAL DELIVERABLE

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Creative Inspiration: Aligned campaign direction with the release poster of Disney’s Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series to leverage current cultural momentum.
Campaign Objective: Capitalize on trending media interest by highlighting the in-game "Obi-Wan" character reveal to boost user acquisition and player engagement.
Execution: Conceptualized and delivered a high-impact promotional asset tailored to capture fans while the show was top-of-mind.

Art Direction

Visual Cohesion & Key Art Alignment:

The art direction directly mirrors the high-contrast, sun-drenched aesthetic of the Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi promotional poster. By matching color palettes, warm sun angles, and atmospheric depth, the piece bridges the gap between official cinematic marketing and mobile game assets.

Atmosphere & Volumetric VFX:

Multi-layer compositing in After Effects incorporates realistic environmental elements—such as dynamic dust storms, atmospheric haze, sand blowouts, and dramatic heat distortion—giving the desert setting scale and cinematic weight.

Environmental & Lighting Integration:

The 3D desert environment built in Cinema 4D with Redshift serves as a photorealistic anchor. Custom green-screen character passes extracted from Unity were relit to match the ambient environment, ensuring the character models seamlessly blend with the cinematic background without looking detached from the gameplay elements.

Dynamic Pacing & Motion Design:

Motion graphics, volumetric lighting passes, and fast-paced camera cuts highlight high-impact combat moments, keeping the sequence energetic while maintaining focus on the featured character reveal.

Marketing Strategy

Cultural Trend Jacking & Relevance:

By aligning the promo's release with the premier of Disney's Obi-Wan Kenobi series, the asset leverages real-world media momentum and trending search interest to drive higher organic reach and player resonance.

User Acquisition & Re-engagement:

The video focuses on a key character reveal (Obi-Wan), serving a dual purpose: capturing new players interested in the current media hype while re-engaging lapsed Galaxy of Heroes players with fresh event content.

Authenticity vs. Production Value:

Merging cinematic 3D environment R&D with actual in-engine Unity gameplay builds user trust. Players see high production value that sets an epic tone, while the inclusion of actual game footage clearly sets expectations for in-game action.

Platform & Format Optimization:

Conceptualized as a 15-second high-impact promotional asset, the pacing and visual density are optimized for social media feeds, digital ads, and event end cards where capturing immediate viewer attention within the first few seconds is critical.

Research and development

Visual Inspiration:
Grounded the campaign's direction in official key art from the Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series, capturing its lighting, atmospheric depth, and color palette as the foundation for the 3D environment.

C4D Environment Benchmark:
Evaluated real-world desert landscape photography to establish exact surface textures, color gradients, and sun angles for the 3D desert setup in Cinema 4D.

VFX breakdown

Recreated and animated the 3D desert environment in Cinema 4D, leveraging Redshift for procedural shading and rendering, paired with Volume Builders, Cloners, and Effectors for complex terrain geometry.

Rendered multi-pass 3D animation sequences out of Cinema 4D, preparing background and atmospheric layers for post-processing in After Effects.

Combined multi-pass 3D desert renders with Unity-captured gameplay assets to construct the final promotional sequence. Composited environmental elements—including dynamic dust storms, volumetric atmospheric haze, sand blowouts, and integrated lighting passes—in After Effects to seamlessly anchor the gameplay footage into the cinematic environment.

Game capture

Character Pass: Isolated Obi-Wan on a custom green screen in Unity, refining the character 3D assets with updated environment-matched lighting for clean keying and seamless compositing.
Gameplay Pass: Captured final battle gameplay sequences directly in Unity to drive the high-energy promotional edit.

Eric Zhang

☺

obi-wan EVENT PROMOTIONAL VIDEO

Game Title: Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
Skills: Motion Graphics design, VFX, Compositing, 3D Modeling, 3D Texturing & Shading, Lighting, Cinematic Capture, Video Editing
Tools: Cinema 4D, Unity, Photoshop, After Effects

FINAL DELIVERABLE

Art Direction

Marketing Strategy

Research and development

Visual Inspiration:
Grounded the campaign's direction in official key art from the Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series, capturing its lighting, atmospheric depth, and color palette as the foundation for the 3D environment.

C4D Environment Benchmark:
Evaluated real-world desert landscape photography to establish exact surface textures, color gradients, and sun angles for the 3D desert setup in Cinema 4D.

VFX breakdown

Recreated and animated the 3D desert environment in Cinema 4D, leveraging Redshift for procedural shading and rendering, paired with Volume Builders, Cloners, and Effectors for complex terrain geometry.

Rendered multi-pass 3D animation sequences out of Cinema 4D, preparing background and atmospheric layers for post-processing in After Effects.

Game capture

Character Pass: Isolated Obi-Wan on a custom green screen in Unity, refining the character 3D assets with updated environment-matched lighting for clean keying and seamless compositing.

Gameplay Pass: Captured final battle gameplay sequences directly in Unity to drive the high-energy promotional edit.

obi-wan EVENT PROMOTIONAL VIDEO Game Title: Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes Skills: Motion Graphics design, VFX, Compositing, 3D Modeling, 3D Texturing & Shading, Lighting, Cinematic Capture, Video Editing Tools: Cinema 4D, Unity, Photoshop, After Effects

FINAL DELIVERABLE

Art Direction

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Marketing Strategy

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Research and development

Visual Inspiration: Grounded the campaign's direction in official key art from the Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series, capturing its lighting, atmospheric depth, and color palette as the foundation for the 3D environment.

C4D Environment Benchmark: Evaluated real-world desert landscape photography to establish exact surface textures, color gradients, and sun angles for the 3D desert setup in Cinema 4D.

VFX breakdown Recreated and animated the 3D desert environment in Cinema 4D, leveraging Redshift for procedural shading and rendering, paired with Volume Builders, Cloners, and Effectors for complex terrain geometry.

Rendered multi-pass 3D animation sequences out of Cinema 4D, preparing background and atmospheric layers for post-processing in After Effects.

Game capture

Character Pass: Isolated Obi-Wan on a custom green screen in Unity, refining the character 3D assets with updated environment-matched lighting for clean keying and seamless compositing.

Gameplay Pass: Captured final battle gameplay sequences directly in Unity to drive the high-energy promotional edit.

obi-wan EVENT PROMOTIONAL VIDEO

Game Title: Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
Skills: Motion Graphics design, VFX, Compositing, 3D Modeling, 3D Texturing & Shading, Lighting, Cinematic Capture, Video Editing
Tools: Cinema 4D, Unity, Photoshop, After Effects

Visual Inspiration:
Grounded the campaign's direction in official key art from the Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series, capturing its lighting, atmospheric depth, and color palette as the foundation for the 3D environment.

C4D Environment Benchmark:
Evaluated real-world desert landscape photography to establish exact surface textures, color gradients, and sun angles for the 3D desert setup in Cinema 4D.

VFX breakdown

Recreated and animated the 3D desert environment in Cinema 4D, leveraging Redshift for procedural shading and rendering, paired with Volume Builders, Cloners, and Effectors for complex terrain geometry.