Images vs Particle Effects

#1 If you intend to have a static image for projectiles then a static sprite is obviously going to be better. If you've got an animated projectile then an animated sprite is better. Beyond this you're going to particle-effects.

You can use particle-effects all over the place and there's an overhead difference between having lots of particle-effects and lots of sprites but ultimately, it'll come down to how many individual particles you use and the target system.

Don't be afraid to use particle effects if it adds to the gameplay somehow but if you intend on doing so, keep the number of individual particles down to a minimum. This may sound obvious but after playing with effects for a while, you soon learn some tricks in making effects look like they've got more particles than they actual have. Keeping particle overdraw to a minimum is always a good thing. This kind of tweaking can result in huge performance gains when using particles. A nasty thrown-together particle effect on its own can bring a system to its knees. Although stating fixed values is always dangerous when not taking the target systems performance into account, I've found that around 300-500 particles active at any time is an overhead that lots of systems will be able to handle with 1500+ for high-end systems. You can use the debug-banner to monitor active particles and all sorts of other performance information.

All in all, you need to experiment with the specific particle effects you design. Sometimes it's better to use either a static/animated sprite for the projectile and then, perhaps as an option in your game, use a mounted particle effect to make them look better. At least this way you can give the user the chance to tune-down the effects if their system isn't up to the job.

Hope this helps,

- Melv.

#2 Thank you Melv May for the information, it's time to go
and learn pixel art :P