Is it possible to pre-run particles to start before 00:00?

AtomicFX

Hi everyone, I'm new to the Gamesalad forums and I have a question that maybe you can help me with. Is it possible to have a particle emitter emit particles before a scene starts so that there are already particles visible. I have a space scene and I'd like to have asteroids constantly flying by in the background. Currently, when the scene starts, the background is empty and then the particles begin to emit offscreen. Thanks for your help!

jonmulcahy

You'd have to put everything on a delay timer, or just have a black image covering everything, and then have it fade out while the asteroids fill in?

jn2002dk

Not to my knowledge but you could work around it

I'd set the particle start up to 0.02 and then have a black (or what ever color suits your game best) actor covering the entire scene fade out and destroy it self after maybe 0.5-1 second. That way you'll have particles up and running once you can actually see the stage

AtomicFX

Thanks for the responses. I think I understand what your saying. Have the particle emitter emit particles behind a layer that hides the emission for a moment and then fades out revealing the particles. I'll have to figure out a way to have the background hidden at the beginning because currently each scene's background is visible from the start.

jn2002dk

Thanks for the responses. I think I understand what your saying. Have the particle emitter emit particles behind a layer that hides the emission for a moment and then fades out revealing the particles. I'll have to figure out a way to have the background hidden at the beginning because currently each scene's background is visible from the start.

No, it's not that complicated

What you do is make an actor that's as big or bigger than your scene and place it in front of everything else. This actor interpolates alpha from 1 to 0 in 0.5-1 second and once the alpha is 0 it destroys it self

This gives the emitter time to spawn particles without the user seeing an empty scene

AtomicFX

I didn't mean it was complicated to do. I would have to change every scene to start that way without making it look like I'm hiding something at the start. It will probably look fine since it will fade out really quick.

jn2002dk

I didn't mean it was complicated to do. I would have to change every scene to start that way without making it look like I'm hiding something at the start. It will probably look fine since it will fade out really quick.

If you make an actor with the properties i described you can simply copy/paste it into every scene then all you have to do is change the particle start up time

As for the fade, use ease out option in interpolate to make it look smooth and people wont notice you're hiding something:)

AtomicFX

I agree, that would be the best way to do it. It sure would've be nice to have the ability to pre-run particles to be born before a scene starts. Maybe in a future update [-O<