Particles

Particles are used to simulate fuzzy phenomena, which are very hard to reproduce with three-dimensional rendering. Hundreds and thousands of particles can be generated, using relatively little processing power, to create effects that would have been too costly and demanding using existing polygon techniques.



History
Particles were first mentioned in a Developer's Blog. Mod Chris E stated that particle effects would be introduced into the game, along with sky boxes, bloom lighting effects, and water reflections.

Particle effects made their first appearance in the 2009 Christmas event. The first glimpse of particles was the snow coming out of the wardrobes through which players entered to get to the Land of Snow. The snow blowing out of the wardrobes gave the effect of cold winds coming out from the Land of Snow. Upon entering the Land of Snow, snowflakes would fall from the sky if the Particle effects option was on. Flakes that were far away appeared smaller than the ones closer to the screen, giving a three dimensional perspective of the scenery.

On 8 February, 2010, Strykewyrms were released, all three of which were the first monsters to incorporate particle effects.

On 15 March, 2010, Corpse mages, Corpse archers, and Dragith Nurn lurking in Lumbridge Catacombs have a 2D sprite core, and all of the Undead in the catacombs have 2D sprite eyes.

On 12 April, 2010, the barriers and level end doors in the Dungeoneering skill were released using particle effect

On 25 May, 2010, Skillcape animations were updated with the use of particle effects.



Particle use in the future
Mod Woody has stated in the forums that magic spells, hair, smoke, and fog will all benefit from particle effects. He has also mentioned that particles might be used in upcoming quests and places, such as Zanaris and the Fairy Tale III quest, the final quest in the Fairy Tale quest series.