I wanted to create a customizable solution for particle systems and visual effects. I love the EFFECT that they can lend to games and I believe that they lend a greater sense of immersion to titles than would be possible without them. The biggest inspiration for this was playing through things like Ghost of Tsushima and Returnal. The fidelity of the particles and how customizable things could be in their photo modes (Tsushima and Yotei) really spoke to me and made me more interested in how they were able to accomplish it.
Ghost of Tsushima
Ghost of Yotei
It was while watching a GDC presentation by Housemarque on their work on a custom particle system for Returnal that I got this idea to create my own software for similar purposes. They asked themselves, “Can we do it with particles” and that really stuck with me. They took a part of games that is usually left for the polish and refinement stages, and said, how can we make this integral to our project and workflow instead.
Housemarque @ GDC 2022: Can We Do It With Particles?
Intro
Tentacles
Vegetation