jwien001 wrote:
I'm making an electric field that zaps and kills a player on contact. Does anyone know which particle effect is best for this kind of thing?

Three options: you could A) search through the various particle systems to find one that looks good (I wouldn't recommend it), B) create a custom particle system, or C) create a fizzly-looking material and make a non-solid brush with a trigger_hurt.

jwien001 wrote:
I'm making an electric field that zaps and kills a player on contact. Does anyone know which particle effect is best for this kind of thing?

I would use a place dominated by large amounts of sparks. I can't recall how you create sparks jumping between two places, but it's possible somehow. Fill a space with them, and it's obvious for the player he shouldn't thread there.

Ricotez wrote:
I would use a place dominated by large amounts of sparks. I can't recall how you create sparks jumping between two places, but it's possible somehow. Fill a space with them, and it's obvious for the player he shouldn't thread there.

Parent an env_sparks to a func_physbox that's nonsolid. Make a trigger_vphysics where you want the spark to jump around and set it to no gravity. Put trigger_pushes around the edges of the are to prevent the spark from exiting the area; set these to something high so the spark will be deflected. Set both the trigger_vphysics and the trigger_push to affect only the func_physbox (you may need a filter for this). Finally, place the spark/physbox in one of the trigger_pushes so that it'll start moving when the game begins. Make sure the pushes and vphysics don't affect the player, and make sure the spark, well, sparks continuously. Oh, and put a trigger_hurt in the same place as the vphysics, so if the player tries to get by they'll be zapped.

There's probably a simpler way, but this is rather realistic, I think.

Have you every tried the Tesla point? Those things are perhaps the most wicked means of adding the current effect to your platform.

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Point_tesla

You could add an invisible door or track function to parent the tesla up and down the platform to add an inFamous style effect while the tesla is active. The best example of this is shown in the Citadel interiors of Half Life 2.

And here's the spark page (parenting trick applies here, too):

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Env_spark

The parenting trick can be applied to add an occasional arcing, like you'd see in a conventional stove once in a blue moon. There are numerous examples of this in the Nova Prospect levels and in the Advisory hut on Episode 2, when the Combine are using laser torches on the doors.