Burst Particles at Runtime with Unity

Problem:

I want to emit a specific number of particles from a ParticleSystem at runtime. For example, in the game CatBoarder, for every spin the player completed during a jump, I wanted to emit a particle for each.

Solution

• Unity 2020+

Add a ParticleSystem to the GameObject that will be emitting particles. Uncheck Looping and Play on Awake.

Under Emissions, configure Bursts to only emit one particle.

Add the code below as a component, then call Emit with the number of particles to emit.

public class BurstEffect: MonoBehaviour
{
    private ParticleSystem _particles;
    private ParticleSystem.Burst _burst;

    private void Awake()
    {
        _particles = GetComponent<ParticleSystem>();
        _burst = _particles.emission.GetBurst(0);
    }

    public void Emit(int score)
    {
        _burst.count = score;
        _particles.emission.SetBurst(0, _burst);
        _particles.Play();
    }
}

The results... a happy cat after 2 spins!

Further Reading:

• https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/PartSysEmissionModule.html