From 2036b60992bcd28d585d237fd0f57243f7675e5f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: skal <pascal.massimino@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2026 17:27:57 +0100
Subject: feat(particles): Implement transparent circular particles with alpha
 blending (Task #53)
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## Visual Improvements
- Particles now render as smooth fading circles instead of squares
- Added UV coordinates to vertex shader output
- Fragment shader applies circular falloff (smoothstep 1.0 to 0.5)
- Lifetime-based fade: alpha multiplied by particle.pos.w (1.0 → 0.0)

## Pipeline Changes
- Enabled alpha blending for particle shaders (auto-detected via strstr)
- Blend mode: SrcAlpha + OneMinusSrcAlpha (standard alpha blending)
- Alpha channel: One + OneMinusSrcAlpha for proper compositing

## Demo Integration
- Added 5 ParticleSprayEffect instances at key moments (6b, 12b, 17b, 24b, 56b)
- Increased particle presence throughout demo
- Particles now more visually impactful with transparency

## Files Modified
- assets/final/shaders/particle_render.wgsl: Circular fade logic
- src/gpu/gpu.cc: Auto-enable blending for particle shaders
- assets/demo.seq: Added ParticleSprayEffect at multiple sequences

## Testing
- All 23 tests pass (100%)
- Verified with demo64k visual inspection
---
 assets/final/shaders/particle_render.wgsl | 19 ++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

(limited to 'assets/final')

diff --git a/assets/final/shaders/particle_render.wgsl b/assets/final/shaders/particle_render.wgsl
index 6f115ec..6a955f0 100644
--- a/assets/final/shaders/particle_render.wgsl
+++ b/assets/final/shaders/particle_render.wgsl
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ struct Uniforms {
 struct VSOut {
     @builtin(position) pos: vec4<f32>,
     @location(0) color: vec4<f32>,
+    @location(1) uv: vec2<f32>,
 };
 
 @vertex fn vs_main(@builtin(vertex_index) vi: u32, @builtin(instance_index) ii: u32) -> VSOut {
@@ -36,9 +37,21 @@ struct VSOut {
     let s = sin(p.rot.x);
     let rotated_offset = vec2<f32>(offset.x * c - offset.y * s, offset.x * s + offset.y * c);
     let pos = vec2<f32>(p.pos.x + rotated_offset.x * size / uniforms.aspect_ratio, p.pos.y + rotated_offset.y * size);
-    return VSOut(vec4<f32>(pos, 0.0, 1.0), p.color * (0.5 + 0.5 * uniforms.audio_peak));
+
+    // Fade based on lifetime (p.pos.w goes from 1.0 to 0.0)
+    let lifetime_fade = p.pos.w;
+    let color_with_fade = vec4<f32>(p.color.rgb * (0.5 + 0.5 * uniforms.audio_peak), p.color.a * lifetime_fade);
+
+    return VSOut(vec4<f32>(pos, 0.0, 1.0), color_with_fade, offset);
 }
 
-@fragment fn fs_main(@location(0) color: vec4<f32>) -> @location(0) vec4<f32> {
-    return color;
+@fragment fn fs_main(@location(0) color: vec4<f32>, @location(1) uv: vec2<f32>) -> @location(0) vec4<f32> {
+    // Calculate distance from center for circular shape
+    let dist = length(uv);
+
+    // Smooth circular falloff (1.0 at center, 0.0 at edge)
+    let circle_alpha = smoothstep(1.0, 0.5, dist);
+
+    // Apply circular fade to alpha channel
+    return vec4<f32>(color.rgb, color.a * circle_alpha);
 }
-- 
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