Particle refers to a graphics technique that uses a large number of very small sprites or other graphic objects to simulate certain kinds of "fuzzy" structures like fire, explosions, etc.

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How do I create particles that react to the player and enemies?

I'm currently making a game with my own game engine which I've written in C++ and I'm using the most recent directx SDK. The game is a top down space shooter (with a pretty interesting twist) and ...
29
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4answers
3k views

How to render 2D particles as fluid?

Suppose you have a nice way to move your 2D particles in order to simulate a fluid (like water). Any ideas on how to render it? This is for a 2D game, where the perspective is from the side, like ...
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6answers
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How can I make a good-looking explosion particle effect?

I'm not much of an artist, but I'm trying to make decent particle effects in a 2.5D game. I'm making a replica of Wii Play's "Tanks" and I can't quite get the explosions to look good. I'm not going ...
25
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5answers
5k views

How can I achieve a good fire effect with alpha blending and particles?

Using the following setting for the OpenGL particle effect: SRC: GL_SRC_ALPHA DST: GL_ONE Creates an additive blend, which looks spectacular on a black background but terrible on brighter colours, ...
11
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2answers
680 views

How can I achieve glow effects similar to those in WoW?

I've recently implemented a glow effect using a gaussian filter and could not get the full effect I was wanting. I'm curious to know if how certain glow effects are done in WoW. Like this image: ...
10
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1answer
521 views

How does pixeljunk shooter simulate its liquids?

I am really impressed by the liquids in pixeljunk shooter. I would love to know how they do it.
10
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3answers
640 views

Drawing particles as a smooth blob

I'm new to game/graphics development and I'm playing around with particles (in 2D). I want to draw particles close to each other as a blob, just as liquid/water. I do not want to draw big circles ...
9
votes
1answer
363 views

Is it worthwhile to use particle pools in managed languages?

I was going to implement an object pool for my particle system in Java, then I found this on Wikipedia. To rephrase, it says that object pools aren't worth using in managed languages like Java and C#, ...
8
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3answers
545 views

How to do the Geometry Wars gravity well effect

I'm not talking about the background grid here, I'm talking about the swirly particles going around the Gravity Wells! I've always liked the effect and decided it'd be a fun experiment to replicate ...
8
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3answers
666 views

Ogre3D how to use many images in a particle system

In the example I found, it usually uses one images for a particle system. Is it possible to use multiple images in a system?
7
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2answers
297 views

How to define areas filled with water?

I would like to enhance my little game engine with nice looking water simulation. To start working on that I need to find a proper way to represent water in the game. Unfortunately I don't know much ...
6
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4answers
2k views

Order independent transparency in particle system

I'm writing a particle system and would like to find a trick to achieve proper alpha blending without sorting particles because: Each particle is a point sprite in a single mesh and I can't use ...
6
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2answers
683 views

How are these bullets done?

I really want to know how the bullets in Radiangames Inferno are done. The bullets seem like they are just billboard particles but I am curious about how their tails are implemented. They can curve so ...
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3answers
921 views

What features do basic particle engines have?

I created a basic particle system for SDL in C++. It has some basic stuff like an emitter, as well as a simple particle class. It can load a image, or create a dot of a color. And that's it. What ...
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4answers
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How to create a Raining Effect(Particles) on Android?

I am developing a 2d android strategy game, it runs on SurfaceView, so I can't(or can I?) use LibGdx's particle system. And I would like to make a raining effect, I am aiming for something like this( ...
5
votes
4answers
916 views

Is it possible to use the GPU on a mobile device to accelerate a particle physics engine?

I am interested in answers for any mobile device but I am mainly considering the iPhone and devices that run Java. I am developing a game that relies heavily on a particle physics engine for core ...
5
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2answers
629 views

3D Particle-Geometry collision

I am programming a particle engine for a 3D game written in XNA. I was wondering if somebody could point me in the right direction or perhaps give me some pointers in making the particles collide with ...
5
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3answers
635 views

Rotate a particle system

Languages / Libraries in use: C++, OpenGL, GLUT Okay, here's the deal. I've got a particle system which shoots out alpha blended textures to produce a flame. The system only keeps track of very ...
5
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2answers
541 views

Alternatives to multiple sprite batches for achieving 2D particle system depth

In my 2D XNA game, I render all my sprites with a single sprite batch using SpriteSortMode.BackToFront and BlendState.AlphaBlend. I'm adding a particle system based on the App Hub particles sample. ...
4
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1answer
504 views

How to code a simple torch light?

How would you code a simple "8 bit fire torch" (just one, nothing else to worry about on screen), without using any sprites? For instance, how would you "animate" a torch that looks like this one:
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1answer
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How to use particle editor for libgdx?

In the libgdx wiki, this particle editor is recommended. And this blog was helpful. But the problem is that I am not sure yet how to use it for my game. Let's say I want to have a fire-effect in my ...
4
votes
3answers
168 views

Fast method of detecting whether point is inside mesh

I'm trying to construct a 3d object from a large number of particles. I think this is called BVH (Bounding volume hierarchy). I figured the best way is to draw the particles inside the mesh, then let ...
4
votes
3answers
394 views

OpenGL ES 2.0 - How to batch draw particles that have unique translations, rotations, scales, and alphas?

I've combined all of my vertex data for many particles into a single array. How would I batch draw all of those particles in a manner that preserves their unique translations? Any code examples ...
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4answers
342 views

Which of these two approaches to particle generator design is preferable?

What is a better idea for a particle generator (bearing in mind the intention to instance the draws to all the particles in the future)? A particle emitter that maintains its own list of particles ...
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2answers
202 views

Which of these two particle generator lifetime management techniques is better?

What would be better: An explosion class which gets created when needed, does it's stuff, then is deleted. (one instance per explosion) An explosion class which persists through the whole game, and ...
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2answers
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How do games make fire and smoke effects?

I was wondering around, searching internet about particle system and fire effects but I haven't found any good answers. On some games I have realized that some sort of movie is being shown as the ...
3
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1answer
269 views

How to bounce a 2d point particle off of a circular edge

In a prototype I'm building, a particle can spawn anywhere within a larger, confining circle. Important to note is that the particle will not spawn in the origin of the larger circle, but anywhere ...
3
votes
2answers
448 views

OpenGL: Precompute a texture rotation

I'm trying to speed up particles, and one way to do that is by precomputing the texture rotations. What I want to do is load the texture, rotate it and save it to a handle. How would I go about doing ...
3
votes
1answer
603 views

Particle System OpenGL (ortho)

I want to implement a particle system in my game but i have no idea where to start :S I've never programmed a particle system, so this is my first time >.<. I only want to display pixels ...
3
votes
2answers
408 views

OpenGL sprites and point size limitation

I'm developing a simple particle system that should be able to perform on mobile devices (iOS, Andorid). My plan was to use GL_POINT_SPRITE/GL_PROGRAM_POINT_SIZE method because of it's efficiency ...
3
votes
2answers
80 views

Playing different particle effects in Unity on the same ParticleSystem

The question really sums it up: What is the best way to use one particle system for playing different particle effects? The scenario: GameObject is picked up and it starts playing a simple indicator ...
3
votes
2answers
186 views

How do I properly use particle simulation in Unity?

So I'm using Unity's simulate function to pre-render particles. It seems that simulate is not quite working as to what I expect. It's most likely a setting that I missed. But I just really cannot find ...
3
votes
1answer
1k views

Lightning whip particle effects

I'm currently using Mercury Particle Engine for the particle effects in my game, and I'm trying to create a sort of lightning whip - basically a lightning effect bound to a line that curves when the ...
3
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2answers
313 views

Creating 2D waveform for Cocos2d game

I'd like to have a Waveform in my iPhone game that I am developing using Cocos2d v2.0. That's the ideal wave I'd like to achieve. A simpler wave which I would still be happy with is this one. ...
3
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1answer
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Changing the size of shuriken particle effects to simulate a torch flame Unity3D

Basically I'm trying to use the "Flame" particle effect to simulate the flame on a torch. My problem is the flame is far too big. I've been trying too figure out how to resize the flame to fit the ...
3
votes
1answer
956 views

DirectX11, how to properly update a staging buffer with a structured buffer's count using CopyStructureCount

Alright, I'm not quite sure what is going on with my code at the moment. I'm currently getting around to defining behavior for my particle system, and to better do this I need to know how many ...
2
votes
2answers
522 views

Registering collision on particles

I am using CCParticleSystemQuad to create particle effects. But I want my sprites to be able to collide with particles. Say your character is a dragon, the dragon breath is a particle effect emitting ...
2
votes
2answers
276 views

Calculating the correct particle angle in an outwards explosion

I'm creating a simple particle explosion but am stuck in finding the correct angle to rotate my particle. The effect I'm going for is similar to this: Where each particle is going outwards from the ...
2
votes
1answer
316 views

What are some of the more commonly used projectile rendering techniques?

couldn't find a duplicate question (bit surprising to me) but anywho I'm starting to get near implementing the rendering of projectiles for my game. My question is what are some good techniques for ...
2
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1answer
106 views

Sound activated particlesystem

I am trying to make a particle system that is activated by sound. Like emitting on the beat resizing on the beat and such things. I found some nice tutorials on how to make things like ...
2
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2answers
849 views

How do I create an actor class in UDK that will spawn a specific particle system?

I'm trying to write a new class that I can drag from actor classes window into the scene and it will spawn a specific particle effect. Its going to be a 'prop' that later will also contain a static ...
2
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1answer
203 views

Particle systems on multiplayer games

I'm working on a 2D javascript/Three.js multiplayer game, using web sockets and an authoritative server currently written in Python. The combat mechanic will be similar to Geometry Wars however i'm ...
2
votes
1answer
921 views

Drawing beam effect in UDK?

I'm having trouble drawing a particle effect between two actors in UDK - Both the source and the target are not static objects, so as far as I can tell I need to do it in the code not in kismet. ...
2
votes
1answer
536 views

GPU particle system using vertex texture fetch in Direct3D9

I've been reading up on particle systems amongst other stuff and one interesting approach uses rendertargets to store a particle's position, velocity, lifetime, etc. A pretty neat summary is given ...
2
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1answer
138 views

2D Particle Physics

I am wanting to write small Particle and ParticleEmitter Classes for a HTML5 Canvas Game (Though, just discussing it in pseudo code is fine) I am not great, at all, at Physics, and I don't want to ...
2
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0answers
273 views

Improving performance of a particle system (OpenGL ES)

I'm in the process of implementing a simple particle system for a 2D mobile game (using OpenGL ES 2.0). It's working, but it's pretty slow. I start getting frame rate battering after about 400 ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views

ways to make a physics engine

Hey so i've been looking into real time physics engines, which led me to the crazyLaggoa multiphysics engine by thiaga costa, and brought up the question of: What are some possible ways, ideas that ...
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vote
2answers
191 views

How do I create a “flying through space” effect?

On the Final Destination stage in Super Smash Bros Brawl (and SSB Melee) the players fight on a platform seemingly moving through space: I see particle effects, but I don't understand how they made ...
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2answers
179 views

How to obtain “annealing” effect via particle system

In this video demonstration, there is the annealing effect, where particles seems to loose their hue and converge into pure white, and then gradually disappear via alpha channel. And in parallel to ...
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2answers
954 views

XNA: How to make particles face the camera but not alter the pitch

I'm using the particles sample from create.msdn.com/en-US/education/catalog/sample/particle_3d which by default, has all the particles look straight at the camera. I'm trying to modify it so that the ...

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