I was browsing the Defold issues tracker and found some interesting issues related to particlefx that I would like to see implemented. For example kill shapes, orbit modifier, and the ability to load multiple images.
I’d love to add some particlefx related stuff to my backlog for the Defold team to look at - so please share what else you would like to see! Either share an existing issue, or if one doesn’t exist already make sure to open one.
The main limitation I’ve encountered with particles is their disconnect from the game world. Sometimes I’ve wanted particles to bounce off objects, or settle on the floor. Unity (boo!) has a few settings for this sort of behaviour. Implementation in Defold would likely be complicated(?).. but thought I’d mention it.
I would vote for muliple images
Not directly particlefx, but right now it’s the only thing that is being used by particlefx.
Currently you can only create one kind of node in the Curve Editor. Would be nice to have that expanded with the common other variants, a sharp one for example.
For me, the only one would be to somehow be able to affect the draw order. A lot of times, I want particles behind something and making another material for this seems like an overly convoluted workflow. If we could decide draw order on the particle FX resource that would be amazing
I would love to be able to use 3D models as particle sources, alongside the currently available images, atlases and tilesets.
Using raw meshes would also be fine if they offer better performance, but for me the convenience of having everything encapsulated in a single .gltf file (including prebaked animations, materials, etc.) is especially important.
Another relatively minor thing I’m missing is a cylinder emitter. There is already a circle emitter, but it emits particles radially, while sometimes I need particles to be emitted axially relative to the circle.
From the features already mentioned by others, I really like the ideas of kill zones and interaction with world objects. Even interaction through dedicated modifiers/objects such as “particle colliders”, without requiring full collision support against all models, would already be very useful and desirable.
If I had to choose order by my desire to have this feature I would rank them as follows (from most desirable):
ability to override paricle parameters from gui
Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Please remember to create issues for the ones that don’t already exist. I’ll go over the suggestions myself in a while anyway to try to create issues for the stuff I like personally.
I’ll also cast my vote for 3D particles, particle collisions / physics, and multiple images / models.