Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

Building Game Worlds
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U L T I M A T E G A M E D E S I G N
FIGURE 3-10
Turbulence field added
The first option offers the benefit of load-sharing some of the particle effect creation
work, but also presents a tool-specific learning curve.
As you might imagine, many current games feature a variety of particle effect elements:
spell casting, magic glows and curses, water fountain spray patterns in a mystical
garden, vehicle exhaust, projectile weapon bursts, and so forth. All of these
effects can be handled using particle systems. Each of these individual elements becomes
an asset that must be created uniquely for your game.
Many games feature hundreds (approaching thousands) of these kinds of elements.
If you have a solid tool to quickly create and refine these elements in a format
that is game-ready, or a tool that works within the game engine itself as you create
them, you remove any import/export hassles. Still, in this case, artists and designers
have to learn how to use the custom tool quickly. This isn’t always easy or efficient.
Many developers, however, have not built custom tools to create particle effects.
They rely on the strength of the particle system features built into 3-D packages like
Maya and 3ds max. These particle systems are well tested and established. But how
do you use particle effects created in these packages within your games? Your development
team will have to make a couple of choices.
Suppose that you want to create a particle-based fire for the hearth in your 12 th
century hovel. One option would be to dynamically export your particle information