Dust trail when character runs

Question

I'm making a 2D top view game (same perspective as the game Forager) in Unity. I want the game to be visually appealing, and want to add some details like dust particles. Whenever the character moves, I want dust-like particles trailing behind the character, almost as if the character is kicking up dust.

So something like this:

The particles are a little big in Forager, but this is similar.

I've used Unity's trail renderer before, but I only used it for making a straight line, and not multiple random particles like this. What should I do to achieve this effect?

Just general guidelines would be okay. I don't necessarily need a complete code, just some guidance because I don't know how to start.

Answer 1

Attach a particle system to the character. Set "Simulation Space" to "World" instead of "Local", so the particles stay behind when the player with the particle system moves. You can use the "Emission over Distance" property to make the particle system only emit particles while the character is moving.

When you are using the URP or HDRP and feel adventurous, then you can alternatively use the new, graph-based particle system.