Special Effects!

How do you guys handle things like smoke puffs, contact graphics, explosions, particles, powerup acquisition, save game effects, etc? They're probably the hardest thing for me to do, but conversely I find them most fun. Also, when done well, they can look fantastic and make a game.

Thoughts?

First of all, what do you mean by contact graphics, powerup acquisition, and save game effects?

For explosions I normally use an animated sprite object, although I have used particles in the past.

The difference between them is that particles basically look like a big mayhem of any colors in it's image, however you can put lots of randomness in with them like X, Y, speed, size, grow rate, etc. , while sprites can have a more realistic look to them, but the only random attributes you can put in with them are things like angle and size. However you do it, though, I recommend using the "Additive" blend mode for any plasma or energy based objects.

P.S. FX are one of my favorite things to work with too

I use Timeline FX ( http://www.rigzsoft.co.uk/ )for most of my effects. Either as whole animated sprites or single frames to use in the particle object in C2.

First of all, what do you mean by contact graphics, powerup acquisition, and save game effects?

Contact graphics - you a bullet hits the enemy/the player hits the enemy

Powerup acquisition - what happens when you grab a powerup or something (does it just play a sound, or does a message pop up, or something else)

Save game effects - graphical fanfare that comes up when you save the game

I use Timeline FX ( http://www.rigzsoft.co.uk/ )for most of my effects. Either as whole animated sprites or single frames to use in the particle object in C2.

That does look useful, though I'm making a 16bit platformer. HD explosion may seem a bit out of place...

If the player or the player's bullet hits the enemy, and the enemy has health, then some red text should appear above it showing how much damage was inflicted.

Also, when the player runs into a powerup, it is a good idea to make him jump a tiny bit even if he's not touching the ground.