I have been watching a play-through of Half Life 2 and got inspired by some of the visuals. We need a way to decorate our ships with translucent particle streams.
The particles would each be a simple 2D billboard displayed in 3D space, moving away from the emitter block.
9 new blocks in two categories:
1. One-color particle emitter for each of the 8 standard colors.
2. Multi-color particle emitter, so you can select how many of the 8 standard colors are included in the particle stream.
Edit: There would only need to be one block type, with configurable color available.
The block mechanic would work like this:
1. Emit the set number and size of particles from the "active" face of the block (default: up?) at the set speed.
2. Terminate the particles when they hit another block (area activation blocks can be used to stop the particles in "mid-air") or when they reach the outer dimensions of the structure.
The "R" block interactive key doesn't just turn the emitter on and off. Instead, it opens up a control panel with at least4 5 controls:
particle speed (default: 1.0 block per sec.)
particle size (default: 1/32 block size)
particle amount (default: 16 at once)
particle fade (default: despawn the particle after [edit: fading as it travels] 4 block lengths)
Edit: particle color (default: white)
With the multi-color emitter, an additional control would be enabled, allowing the player to select which colors (can pick any number of them between 0 and 8), and then those colors are randomly used for the particles.
Other ideas for controls: particle spread? (maybe have the particles move out from the emitter in a fan pattern?)
Linking ideas: logic attachment for turning the emitter on or off. weapon attachment for additional weapon launch effects (maybe a weapon effect option, so that when hit, the target "emits" those particles temporarily?)
Ideas? Can we do something like this with an existing block already?
Edit: I almost forgot to mention game limits. The game should probably put a certain limit on the number of total particles in the universe. 2048 seems like too few, but any more and it might bog the system down too much. It would be something to test.
The particles would each be a simple 2D billboard displayed in 3D space, moving away from the emitter block.
1. One-color particle emitter for each of the 8 standard colors.
2. Multi-color particle emitter, so you can select how many of the 8 standard colors are included in the particle stream.
Edit: There would only need to be one block type, with configurable color available.
The block mechanic would work like this:
1. Emit the set number and size of particles from the "active" face of the block (default: up?) at the set speed.
2. Terminate the particles when they hit another block (area activation blocks can be used to stop the particles in "mid-air") or when they reach the outer dimensions of the structure.
The "R" block interactive key doesn't just turn the emitter on and off. Instead, it opens up a control panel with at least
particle speed (default: 1.0 block per sec.)
particle size (default: 1/32 block size)
particle amount (default: 16 at once)
particle fade (default: despawn the particle after [edit: fading as it travels] 4 block lengths)
Edit: particle color (default: white)
With the multi-color emitter, an additional control would be enabled, allowing the player to select which colors (can pick any number of them between 0 and 8), and then those colors are randomly used for the particles.
Other ideas for controls: particle spread? (maybe have the particles move out from the emitter in a fan pattern?)
Linking ideas: logic attachment for turning the emitter on or off. weapon attachment for additional weapon launch effects (maybe a weapon effect option, so that when hit, the target "emits" those particles temporarily?)
Ideas? Can we do something like this with an existing block already?
Edit: I almost forgot to mention game limits. The game should probably put a certain limit on the number of total particles in the universe. 2048 seems like too few, but any more and it might bog the system down too much. It would be something to test.
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