Designing the particles in ParticleBOOM!

Designing the particles in ParticleBOOM!

Hi there :)

Today I wanted to share with you guys how we designed the particles in ParticleBOOM!.
I think we have had three main deign stages on our particles over the last two years. Thats because we have completly redesigned the whole game atleast three times, and the resolution has increased so we had to increase the size of all particles also. But we couldnt just scale them up, that would look bad, so we redesigned them all once more.

So, here we go:

First we used the backround from the game, that makes it easier for us to see if the color of the particle fit the colors of the background.

Then choose the shape you want the particle to have. A circle, square, triangle or something completely different.

2_shape
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wanted to make the particles stand out from the background as much as possible, but at the same time have the same color sheet so they didnt clash. So we used a slightly darker color then then the color of the particle as an outline/stroke. We also put on an inner glow and an outer glow. Its important that the outer glow is white because of all the different colored backgrounds we have in ParticleBOOM!. If the outer glow had another color then white, the blending with the backgrounds would not be as good.

3_stroke

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the fun part starts :) making the shine effekt by using the pen tool and marquee tool then regulate the opacity to make it blend abit more softly with the rest of the particle. We also added three shining circles on top to represent the reflections of the light.

4.shine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can use the same tecnique to any form and shape. But the idea is to use the same tone on all the colors, so that one particles doesnt get much brighter then another.
We often use color overlay as the fill color, so that its very easy just to select another color and make the reflections slightly different to make a new particle with the same shape.

Below you can see how the particle is being presented to you when you unlock it.
You can slo see how different particles look like in the game during a wave/level.
And finally a little closeup so that you can see the full resolution.
I hope this was enjoyable :)
Thank you for reading.

IngameIngame_waveutdrag

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