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Plumber Particles: A 2016 Deep Dive
Back in 2016, I found myself again falling down a bit of a rabbit hole. I’ve always believed that a huge part of being an artist—especially when leading a team—is the “learn-to-teach” loop. You get curious about something, learn about it, play with it, figure out if it is useful, and if it is, bring it back to the studio.
For this project, I had three specific itches to scratch:
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The Mario Aesthetic: I was captivated by how great the VFX on first party games for the Nintendo Switch looked despite it being so underpowered.
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Cell Shading: I wanted to play with the current cell shaders for Unity’s particle systems to get that specific, “pop” look and learn more about shaders.
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The Asset Store: I was simply curious about the “behind-the-scenes” of the Unity Asset Store—how does one actually package, ship, and support a tool for other creators?
It’s a bit of a trip to see that it’s still live on the store today. Looking back, it was a perfect little microcosm of what I love about tech art: looking for inspiration in the constraints of the medium.
Game productionIt looks like it still exists in the asset store! https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/particles/plumber-particles-70167?srsltid=AfmBOootrhrFXjR76O-agruE_aS9cLWqK8L6Frt6KFtBqWvCaaVjk-D6
Plumber Particles