What is ⁂Pulse⁂?

⁂Pulse⁂ is a free open source library made for GameMaker . It uses GameMaker's own particle system to make new more complex particle effects.

What is this?

This is a demo project that showcases most of Pulse's capabilities. As such, it is also a very basic visual editor. Sadly it is not possible to export or import from the web browser version. The editor is ImPulse v 0.1.00 .If this project interests you please let me know :) .

What are particles, and what are they useful for?

Particles are (basically) sprites that get moved around the screen given an initial set of values. They are faster to compute than multiple objects and are ideal for things like rain, snow, fire, smoke, splashes, sparks, things that go "boom", "flawmmm" or "splash".

More specifically though, the best use case for particles are situations where its either:

• Not worth it to animate an fx on its own for it, either because the fx is too small or too big.

• A hand animated (or procgen baked) FX is not responsive enough / the situation that requires the FX is highly dynamic and difficult to predict.

Keep in mind that GameMaker and Pulse's particles are NOT simulations. You can approximate certain effects, but you shouldn't try to simulate water filling a vessel with these particles.

⁂ Why use Pulse instead of GameMaker's particles?

The main difference between GM's vanilla editor and Pulse is the emitters: While in GM they only determine the position a particle is created, in Pulse they also indicate direction, speed, color, and many other properties! This allows Pulse to make an "energy charge" effect (you know, when particles accelerate towards a center) with just a few lines of code and zero guesswork from part of the user. Pulse can also use sprites to determine particle's properties, and use Paths to emit particles. Additionally, Pulse particles, systems and emitters can be exported and imported.

⁂ Thanks to:

FoxyOfJungle, Juju Adams, Red, Grisgram, DragoniteSpam, Gleb Tsereteli, and everyone at the GameMaker Kitchen community.