Building our own lightning

I spent a while looking at lightning assets. Some looked great, but the price or uncertainty about compatibility kept getting in the way. Meanwhile, the effect on the board still wasn't giving me the big visible strike I wanted.

We ended up building a custom one for the project. It has a thick main bolt, smaller branches, brief repeat strikes, and a bright impact where it actually reaches the feature.

The contact needed as much attention as the lightning itself. Sparks, glowing fragments, a surface flash, and a little cloud around the impact help it feel like something hit the mechanism. Just making the line brighter wasn't enough.

That effect is now shared by Shock, Shot Flow arrivals, and curse strikes, with their own colors. I still want to keep an eye on how busy several strikes feel during normal play.