Topic: Particles in lua (explosion example)
I prepared a new example to show how to do particles using lua (in progress) :
http://www.maratis3d.org/download/SpecialEffects.zip
In this first example, particles are created using a quad made in blender with an additive blend mode.
The life of the particle is controlled by a material animation changing the diffuse from white to black (in additive black is transparent), so in lua we can control the life duration by changing the animation speed.
Later I'll show you how to make a more generic particle system and how to use uv texture animation to do some magical effects.