Extending Shuriken Particle System

Hi all

Im in the process of setting up a particle system for a racing game but have run into a few problems that the current Shuriken particle controls do not address.

my issue is that i have to few particles near the emission point (near the back of the car) leaving an ugly gap.

[22003-screen+shot+2014-02-11+at+11.37.21+am.png|22003]

what i want to do is emit lots of particles to fill up that gap but have most of them die/removed before they reach the thicker part of the cloud to the left of the image and start impacting performance through over draw.

the issue I am having is when i set the shrunken particle system to emit some particles with a long life span and others with a short life span the particles with a short life grow to the same size as the particles with a long life making the entire thing look like a mess

[22004-screen+shot+2014-02-11+at+12.01.32+pm.png|22004]

Is there a way i can expand the Shuriken particle emitter so i can set the particle size based on how long a particle has been alive while setting its opacity and other properties based on remaining particle life ?

can you expand the Shuriken modules/add your own?

Yes absolutely you can do what ever you want. I think you haven’t checked all the properties of particle system. A lot of properties are there about them you need to know. Once you know what is the use of each and every property then ideas will come in your mind and you will be able to create what you exactly want.