So its time for more realistic falling snow graphics in Caveman:

http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1730/entry-2258672-caveman-v30-general-desciption/

I'm shooting for a more photo-realistic effect, as opposed to an "impressionistic" effect (read: blurry / fuzzy) as seen in titles such as Skyrim. Don't get me wrong, Skyrim is beautiful, but it almost comes off looking like a painting in an art gallery! <g>

I'm thinking:

* particle system in a cube around the camera

* 3d billboard sprites

* alpha test or maybe alpha blend

Sound about right?

Any cool tricks i might throw in while i'm at it?

I'm thinking:

* particle system in a cube around the camera
* 3d billboard sprites
* alpha test or maybe alpha blend

Sound about right?

Yes - except that alpha test isn't necessarily faster than alpha blending. Also, it will give unsatisfactory visual results.

Just use alpha-blending - rendering a few thousand snow particles shouldn't really have a big performance impact.

Guess it'll come down to how good a snow texture I can make! : P

hmm... a snowflake mesh of 3 mutually perpendicular textured quads... rotated on all 3 axes over time... add a little swirl to the particle's trajectory...

Naw - I need to look at some footage. Good artwork starts with good reference photos.