Scent System

[Taviszorn]

Hello!

I want to implement a scent-like system in my program. It would work in a way, that if there is color on the canvas, then it would spread to the pixels nearby (kinda like a blur) and disappear over time. I imagine it would look like the colors diffuse, which is what I want.
Do I need some sort of shader to do this? If so, how? I don't really understand how they work, so any help would be really appreciated!

Thank You in advance!

[darkfrei]

I don't know how to do it in the right way, but you are need shaders.

https://blogs.love2d.org/content/beginn ... e-shaders/
https://inspirnathan.com/posts/65-glow- ... shadertoy/

[veethree]

The way I see it you have 2 options. You can use a shader, check out this blog post for a basic primer on how they work. Or you could use a cellular automaton.

If your game is grid based in some way a cellular automaton might be the better option, otherwise shaders.

This kind of shader could make use of convolution matrices, check out this video for a primer

[knorke]

Another way could be to use a particle system. Particles that slowly drift away and fade out.
Löve's particle system: https://love2d.org/wiki/ParticleSystem