Particle Systems and Other Visual Effects
While a lot of content in scenes is from terrain and 3D meshes, and other effects from light sources, some fantastic effects can be created from Particle Systems. Particle systems are basically a collection of points whose creation changes over time, and whose lifetime can be controlled through parameters and rules. Also, how each particle is rendered can be controlled over time, sometimes using colors and other times using sprite images. Effects such as gravity and collisions with surfaces can be applied to make it more convincing to the player that the particles are part of the scene and interacting with other scene objects.
Some possible effects of Particle systems include:
- Fire, explosions, smoke, and sparks
- Water drops, moving water, and waterfalls
- Other effects such as dust, fish, glowing effects from magic potions, and so on
Figure 15.1: Particle systems used to great effect in the Witcher computer...
