A 3D game must be attractive. It has to offer amazing effects for the main characters and in the background. A spaceship has to fly through a meteor shower. An asteroid belt has to draw waves while a UFO pursues a spaceship. A missile should make a plane explode. The real world shows us things moving everywhere. Most of these scenes, however, aren't repetitive sequences. Hence, we have to combine great designs, artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced physics to create special effects.
In this chapter, we will add special effects to the scenes. By reading this chapter and following the exercises we will learn to:
Add many background models, adding life to the game
Control many independent backgrounds
Simulate fluids with movement
Work with multiple concurrent physics simulators
Use advanced physics simulation to create waves
Learn to encapsulate complex effects using classes