Are some marine life forms trapped inside the city of Rapture?
JJ: Particle systems were used to create several (but not all) of the special water effects in Bioshock. A particle system, at its core essence, is fairly simple and straightforward. A visual effect, such as a drop of water falling from the ceiling to the floor, is represented inside of a particle system as a single point with properties such as mass and velocity that dictate how that point is supposed to move and interact in the world around it. The particle system controls a collection of these points, including creating new ones and updating the parameters of old ones. The dynamics and physics involved in any particular particle system are actually extremely open ended. Our “basic” particle system has more than 100 individual parameters that can be modified to produce an almost unlimited number of effects. Artists can control parameters that dictate everything from particle size, color, opacity, and each particle’s general visual appearance, to movement parameters like acceleration,
