<rant>
Particles are nice. They are beautiful. They add flair and detail through a series of simple rules.
My experience with particles has lead me to the following impressions (that will most likely evolve over time)
Soft edges on particles are required for realism - or any attempt to appear real. Hard-edges give a cartoon-like feel. Which, if you're looking for something original, might be just the thing.
Additive Blending looks very nice. The continual layering of thin clouds of smoke adds for a combined amount of detail that would be hard to match any other way. Also, the order of composition doesn't matter anymore as everything is summed. Again, remember that different blending modes will greatly alter how your particles are presented. Unusual modes aren't necessarily bad. Try, fail, enjoy the results!
Expansion and contraction of individual particles over time can help particles cover more of an area as they get sparse. Good for clouds of dust or vapour.
Reduced resolution of rendered particles won't make much of a difference. (There's an article in GPU Gems 3: http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems3/gpugems3_ch23.html) That is, if your particles are diffuse. If you're looking for hard-shading and a toon-like feel - then this isn't the wisest choice.
External forces to make the particles sway in a given direction, or conform to the rules that underly the physical objects found in the rest of the game might make sense. Of course, doing the opposite can be interesting!
Random direction, speed, and time to live add variety to what would be a purely predictable system. And it's this added variety that makes the particle system come to life. Or so I believe.
Density is important. The more particles - the better. That's why I prefer simple soft-edged particles. Like circles. Textures could be used to add a bit of extra detail, or a different feel.
Most importantly, don't be scared to try stuff. There isn't really any wrong way to do particles - unless if you're searching for some popular already-existing effect.
My experience with particles has lead me to the following impressions (that will most likely evolve over time)
Soft edges on particles are required for realism - or any attempt to appear real. Hard-edges give a cartoon-like feel. Which, if you're looking for something original, might be just the thing.
Additive Blending looks very nice. The continual layering of thin clouds of smoke adds for a combined amount of detail that would be hard to match any other way. Also, the order of composition doesn't matter anymore as everything is summed. Again, remember that different blending modes will greatly alter how your particles are presented. Unusual modes aren't necessarily bad. Try, fail, enjoy the results!
Expansion and contraction of individual particles over time can help particles cover more of an area as they get sparse. Good for clouds of dust or vapour.
Reduced resolution of rendered particles won't make much of a difference. (There's an article in GPU Gems 3: http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems3/gpugems3_ch23.html) That is, if your particles are diffuse. If you're looking for hard-shading and a toon-like feel - then this isn't the wisest choice.
External forces to make the particles sway in a given direction, or conform to the rules that underly the physical objects found in the rest of the game might make sense. Of course, doing the opposite can be interesting!
Random direction, speed, and time to live add variety to what would be a purely predictable system. And it's this added variety that makes the particle system come to life. Or so I believe.
Density is important. The more particles - the better. That's why I prefer simple soft-edged particles. Like circles. Textures could be used to add a bit of extra detail, or a different feel.
Most importantly, don't be scared to try stuff. There isn't really any wrong way to do particles - unless if you're searching for some popular already-existing effect.
</rant>
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