Light and effects in huge outdor environment

[suliman]

Hi
Im making an aircraft game set in daylight. Large terrain/islands and sea. Some buildings, units and trees are also there.

As you can shoot rockets, use bombs etc i need explosions. Would making it by combining only particle effects together look nice? Ive done this in 2d graphics to good effect (phun intended) in another engine. But maybe its completely different in 3d. Suggestions?

Right now i have lightning disabled. But this looks a bit stale obviously. Could i add lights to make it a bit more dynamic even though its a daylight setting? Where would i start?

Thanks a lot
Erik

[suliman]

noone?

[hybrid]

Since particles are camera-aligned 2d surfaces, lighting will probably not look as nice as you want it. In that case, volumetric explosions would be required.

[suliman]

So particles explosions (would you recommend spark engine? I looked into it a little bit) will not look nice if camera is moving? (as it is in an airplane game).

Also, the general lightning question, how can this be done in a large, open (even daylight) situation? Any way to make it look more alive (compared to just disable lightning)

Thanks

[eejin]

Well you would wan a directional light to disguise itself as the sun and then have shadowcasting. Ofcourse some reflective materials help to boost the effect of daytime :p.