I’m one of the developers on a project called Life Goes On, a puzzle platformer where you guide a series of hapless knights around and use their predecessor’s corpses to solve puzzles. The game isn’t finished yet, but I did finish up a special effect I’m really happy with and I wanted to show that off. There are flamethrowers in the game that burn the knights to a crisp, and in keeping with the lighthearted tone of the game they freeze in midair before dissolving to ash Loony Tunes style.
This video contrasts the initial design with the finished effect:
I’ve written a blog post going over the details of how the effect was implemented. It’s a fairly complex setup involving several particle systems, a custom shader, and some scripting to tie everything together.
I hope the details of the implementation are interesting and useful! If this has piqued your interest in the game, you can check out some playable early builds at www.lifegoesongame.com!
(P.S. I recognize that this is straddling the line between finished product and work-in-progress, so I hope I’m not stepping on any toes by posting it on this forum!)
