Basic Particle System

A particle system is a graphics technique where we emit a large number of sprites from an emitter and have those sprites go through a life cycle where they change in a variety of ways. We build some randomness into our sprite life cycle to create a wide range of interesting effects such as explosions, sparks, snow, dust, fire, engine exhaust, and so on. Some particle effects can interact with their environment. In our game, we are going to use particle effects to create nice-looking engine exhaust and ship explosion effects.

This chapter...