The Limitations of Particle Effects [Effects]

Particles are a type of effect which scatter outward in large quantities. You'll often want to display lots of these particles, but that can be easier said than done.
By the way, this is the final video in the Effects category!

[@Garomasta]

I really like Ultimate's particle effects. The flame, smoke and explosion particles in particular have a cool comic-like 2d look that still doesn't feel out of place with the 3d character models.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

The particle effect animation in _Kirby's Dreamland_ looks very impressive even for the Gameboy's limitation.

[@tailgrowth]

I wonder how stunted a lot of game developers are today because they never HAD to work with incredibly strict processing limitations and never learned about programming tricks that are both effectively and economical. Sometimes less is more, but it can be too easy these days to just rely on the power of the tech to carry a bad design.

[@RebelliousTreecko]

I've been waiting for particle video for quite a while. Very nice.

[@zerarch77]

The biggest problem with particle effects is how easily they can clutter the presentation of gameplay. I cannot count the number of times I've gotten hit or died in games because critical information was obscured by excessive or unnecessary particle effects.

[@Leopez02]

Congratulations for revalving the Nintendo museum it looks so AWESOME and it's one more reason for me why I wan't to visit in Japan the home country of my favourite video game company! 🎉😊❤

[@otherprisma7354]

Uhhh Sakurai had nothing to do with the Nintendo Museum lol

[@Leopez02]

@@otherprisma7354 but he's one of the BIG BOSS of Nintendo too just as Myamoto that's why

[@mmking9999]

@@Leopez02 No he's not. He just happens to make games for Nintendo, but he's never been a Nintendo employee.

[@otherprisma7354]

@Leopez02 He is not a Nintendo employee, per say. He has his own company.

[@vittosphonecollection57289]

I've always bern curious is particle effects are really that heavy? Why does Sonic Frontiers on Switch have Cyberspace levels with the same graphics and amount of background objects as the most powerful new gen consoles, but it can't just draw a few blue lines? Shouldn't the complex backgrounds be the problem? Why is the Switch handling them fine, but it can't render literally a png of a blue line? While Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is so full of particles, but that's made by Nintendo so it makes sense that it looks better.

[@ferinzz]

It can quickly add up for a number of reasons. Firstly, the fact that each particle is often either a 2d sprite or a full 3d model. Meaning that every single time the particle appears it uses memory and animation calculations. But there's a bunch of games that have a crap ton of grass! you might say. That's where things get interesting. A strong programmer could program simple objects to be created by the GPU itself. this allows the designer to have a lot of polygons on the screen without overloading the memory. It's so effective that it can be done at a high framerate even when written in javascript (the slowest language to exist) This also prevents the need to worry about constantly deleting or adding more stuff to memory. But what if the particle is a sprite or a 3d asset. Well then that means that it needs to be added into memory for every number of times it could exist. And this is where particle numbers start to really affect performance. Allocating and deallocating new memory chunks is EXPENSIVE in terms of speed! I won't bore you with the details but there's quite a few reasons why this is the case. This means that a dev will need to determine the best way to handle these situations. a) preload the assets so that it will always be in memory, like seen in the gameboy sprite map. b) have a preallocated amount of sprites that can be on the screen at one time, so if the sprite count is maxed, that's it no more can be added. c) screw it the hardware is powerful enough just load everything realtime, and then you risk major lag spikes because they need to be read from the hard drive into memory to then be rendered and culled at the end. Why can't sonic run as well as mario kart? Probably a number of reasons spanning from the engine needing to be able to quickly render and release more stuff due to sonic's speed to simply bad programming.

[@luisguillermojg]

Sakurai putting particle effects every time his animation of himself shows up is very funny.

[@todesziege]

These tricks also help with keeping a game visually readable. A lot of modern games overdo particle effects to the point of causing a lot of visual clutter, making the screen harder to read as the important bits are obscured by less important fluff.

[@CasepbX]

Many UE games are guilty of this.

[@bearman_1826]

I've noticed that while playing the og Modern Warfare, but I think it might have been intentional in that game.

[@SuperPistachio_]

I haven't played Wario World in nearly 20 years, but the one thing that I remember most is how one of the boss fights, Red-Brief J, would constantly dip in frame rate because of all the particle effects.

[@Alayric]

I like the black&white particle used for Kirby's aspiration, nice way to make it visible

[@chubchib8638]

I used to max out the particle effects on Roblox until it crashed. Fun times

[@vittosphonecollection57289]

What really? Lol I used to make a giant block with some distorted and squashed particles that went across the entire screen! 😂😂

[@holographicquad3521]

As an aspiring game developer, these videos are always super helpful!

[@HarryLLC]

In the words of Pirate Software (Thor)... You're not an aspiring game developer You're a game developer Own it and be proud of it; that's who you are

[@GameTesterBootCamp]

I felt this one in my BONES. I remember making a game for a 2009 iPod Touch and the particle effects DESTROYING the performance. It's weird but after you've spent a lot of time on an underpowered platform like that, you get really good at making sure your game is as efficient as possible.

[@bearman_1826]

That's one thing I wish I had been forced to learn earlier. I've been using Gamemaker this whole time, and only just reached a point as a developer where I can even touch a modern CPU's performance. Hitting that wall forced me to switch up my entire strategy.

[@manguy01]

Meanwhile, modern PC developers be like: _"This unnecessary flair causes frame drops in the dozens? Whatever, just make them buy a new computer"_

[@雪鷹魚英語培訓的領航]

Or like Digital Foundry have shown, games like Elden Ring have frame hitches no matter how beefy your PC.

[@piranhabones]

And yet even that isn't enough lmfao

[@TimRomero]

Please, enough of the “lazy devs” belittling. Every game developer is trying their best. This channel is for learning.

[@Sponsie1000]

the new CoD is 309GB,, surely they needed every single mb of that space :')

[@richardhunter9779]

​@@TimRomero As a programmer, most programmers do NOT try their best.

[@ArcaJ]

I think anyone studying to design games should make one Gameboy game. Even if it isn't published, just learn to work within those limitations.

[@thatoneXman]

I've heard that Pico-8 games are actually really close in size to Gameboy cartridges. AND they're famously lightweight and low-size on purpose. So if you actually want to go that approach to making a game that's shockingly lightweight... Pico-8 is where you wanna go.

[@internetguy7319]

PICO 8 is preferable for that type of challenge.

[@ppowersteef]

I'm using Pico-8, and though it's different and smaller in size than a Gameboy, I still think it's an ideal for a small and modern working enviroment. I'd definitely recommend it for quick and simple games!

[@bearman_1826]

That sounds really fun.

[@skeptale]

Despite the more limited hardware power I've always thought Smash has far more stylish and satisfying particle effects than other fighting games. Restrictions breed creativity, as they say.

[@Dingalow]

I like the fact that little 19 year old Sakurai wanted to be economical but still spent significant resources on particle effects

[@MegaHunter2000]

I don't think that particle effects are opposed to be economical. It's depend on the game's art or the atmosphere.

[@QMulative]

I'm sure Tekken's Harada is more jealous of your player count, than you are of his particle count.

[@mechadeka]

Isn't Tekken 8 the best selling game in the series?

[@project-gladiator]

​@@mechadeka quite sure it isn't even close to Smash numbers anyway

[@vittosphonecollection57289]

And the particles in Smash were still cool tho!

[@Neoxon619]

@@mechadeka Even Mortal Kombat only sells about half of what Smash does.

[@ManifestoPerUnAvatar]

I wonder if Mr Sakurai would do a whole code base breakdown of the early days games like kirby, to connect concepts of programming and game design!

[@Pedro-zh6kk]

I don't think Mr. Sakurai have all the knowledge about Kirby Dream Land's code base, since the programmer was Mr. Iwata. But who knows, maybe he can pull something like that off some day.

[@ManifestoPerUnAvatar]

@@Pedro-zh6kk you're right. I didn't know that, but now I'm even more interested to know how the two of them worked togheter, discuss ideas implementation, ecc!

[@DylanKatt]

Happy 250th video! 😃 I wonder if there'll be 300. 🤷‍♂️

[@hakirayleigh]

I dont think so...Sakurai videos will finish maybe in three months.

[@slambrecht6]

The final one has already been recorded about a month ago so I doubt there are still 49 other ones waiting.

[@DylanKatt]

@@hakirayleigh Mabye. 🤷‍♂️

[@DylanKatt]

@@slambrecht6 Probably. 🤷‍♂️

[@PsychicAlchemy]

I've seen some of the particle systems sent in with job applications, and so many of them are massive movie-tier effects that will never run on any hardware. Meanwhile a friend of mine does some amazing effects with half a dozen particles. Some of the sparkliest sparkles and poofiest clouds!

[@bearman_1826]

The particles were one of the best things about Smash Ultimate, imo. I remember that being the first thing I noticed when I got into a match.

[@connordarvall8482]

I knew flamethrower attacks were just particles over a hitbox!

[@Cashbans]

Is that kind of obvious

[@ExploDjinn]

Granted, I've only played it in recent years, but I never really paid attention to the different ways the stars split in Kirby's Dreamland. Neat.

[@thecunninlynguist]

I like 2d particle effects

[@shawnheatherly]

You got to balance flash with processing as well as readability; don't want particle effects to obscure what's going on after all.

[@CasepbX]

One of my favorite things in games. It saddens me when a game dev gets lazy and uncreative with modern FX and just throws a ton of generic UE spark physics particles for an animation instead of putting in effort to craft something original. FF7 Remake is guilty of this.

[@ElTaitronAnim]

Great advice, thank you Sakurai.

[@BlueKazuki]

bonus kirby lore is always appreciated

[@LuigiTheMetal64]

The shiny animations in the Generation 6 Pokémon games are great because they look like stars without being too much like the real life stars at night.

[@jedisquidward]

Perfect video as always. Particle effects are an interesting topic for Smash Bros. in particular, since some of its franchises, like Tekken and Kingdom Hearts, make up for a lack of freeze-frames in combat with extra emphasis on particle effects. (Wow! I can't believe that was brought up!) Staggering the timing and positions of particles to control the total number on screen at any given time is so brilliant. Even for something as small as this, so much effort is put into making the best product possible. Speaking of particles, notice how the original sprite for Kirby's inhale is both black and white so it'll show against any background? I CAN'T BELIEVE I ALSO NOTICED THAT BEFORE IT WAS SAID TOO!!! I AM THE TRUE STUDENT OF SAKURAI

[@Aperson-62]

Young game developer: I'm going to cover the screen in sparkles and flashing lights Also young game developer: WHY IS MY GAME RUNNING AT 1FPS?

[@paperluigi6132]

Huh, never been THIS early. 2:25 just as I’m thinking about Tekken, the footage shows up.

[@thecunninlynguist]

Late? He usually posts at 4 am pacific time

[@harukaze7388]

kirby's particle effects over every action distinguishes it so much when you fall to the floor or hit a wall, combined with sound the distinct explosions and sparkles it makes the game feel right in a way most others don't

[@VeritasUnae]

I mean, the stacking of particle effects is used to create an ACE entry point for Paper Mario. They're serious stuff!

[@contentdesignwizardry2458]

Are these problems with hardware performance and particle effects even real? He says how to do things but I don't understand why it would improve performance from a technical standpoint.

[@TheHylianBatman]

Particle effects are really cool, I hadn't realized how much work goes into them!

[@sarahlynn7807]

Good principles

[@SkyArcherDev]

Repost this video to scare a VRChat avatar maker.

[@OGNoNameNobody]

*GREAT* Side-by-side comparison on Tekken & Smash.

[@Brods11]

Great info about Particle Effects Limitations👍

[@mimisaiko]

Game design is often about specific things that only apply to specific domain, I'm surprised that Sakurai san can share so many principles that can share across different projects.

[@PanchoMngkn]

Thank you Mr Sakurai

[@sa3270]

It can't be as bad as trying to animate 1000 polygons in a character model can it?

[@ferinzz]

Depends where the bottle neck is. Those 1k polygons are always present and allocating the same chunk of memory. That's stressing the GPU rendering. Particle effects pop in and out of the scene constantly, meaning memory issues because you're adding and removing stuff constantly slowing down the time it takes to draw each frame. This also means that the detail of the rest of the scene needs to be lowered to compensate. On something like a gameboy or an nes I think there was a limit to how many entities could be on the screen at that same time, meaning a choice between fewer enemies or fewer effects. You also want to control what stuff is playing off screen, so you're not wasting gpu power/memory. But that also means having something to check if the location is in or out of the screen and turn it on or off for when it does come into the scene.

[@DarkBloodbane]

They look small and less significant yet they require some rules to make them efficient. thanks for sharing this Mr Sakurai!

[@blastygamez]

Thank you Sakurai

[@dearthofdoohickeys4703]

I know nothing about game development, but it’s really fun to learn how games are optimized to use as much space as efficiently as possible.

[@losermonkey666]

0:18

[@shuccle6161]

such a good video i love how he went into details on the particles and their implementation specifically in the original kirby game since the hardware was so limited. it really made such a difference back then and the same fundamentals are applied even in today's modern games.

[@luckykaaby1629]

💖

[@Vashr555]

Hello!!!! Your videos gives me information that i wont entirely use but im happy i know these type of information

[@MarcusLambright-o2x]

This video just makes me think of Earth Defense Force 6. Videogamedunkey shows how it looks when you do processing, compiling, and particle effects the wrong way.

[@TonymeansAnthony]

Common sakurai W

[@YamadaDesigns]

For some reason I thought Sakurai said this series was over

[@RobsiXXL]

It will be by the end of this year I think. I believe all of his recent videos and upcoming are prerecorded, his work on this series is basically done. I did not do any research for this comment, so be careful.

[@GraceofGod247]

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@denischen8196]

With more advanced hardware, game developers should ease the restrictions on particle effects, especially if you want to focus on immersion. Games should be more generous with large numbers of tiny particles that linger for a long time and move in complex ways. It should dynamically adjust the amount and duration of effect based on the hardware it is currently running on, how many particles are already present, how far it is from the camera, and how important it is to display compared to other particles.

[@herobrinesbestminion6766]

to much lightshow is not good on the framerate.

[@EnchantedSmellyWolf]

It varies what game. If the game is a open world, then you will have make a new direction. Pretty Particle effect are great for small games that are more linear both 3D and 2D so that it won't lead to any lag and preform well.

[@EmpressoftheHarelquinDevilGods]

Thank you Sakuraisan for coming to visit me that one time, my friend. How did you know that I always enjoyed that type of candy like my father would know I would appreciate and love? ❤️😭