This is more of a question as to request some advice on which pattern/approach I should use. I have done some investigations into this problem - with poor results.
Essentially I have an idea for a game, in which the key gameplay mechanic is based around falling snow - or, in the case of this idea game - falling particles.
The snow/particles need to fall down the screen - but accumulate in piles. The issue is, I need to snow to 'trickle down' the sides of the piles, when they are certain angle, and continue to accumulate. It is possible that holes open underneath piles of snow, and the snow has to fall out - think like sand falling through an hourglass.
I have tried this is Box2d - it is clear that Box2d isn't the right choice for 10,000's of tiny particles - that last for long periods of time. Box 2D chugged to death pretty quickly.
I tried drawing 1px bitmaps onto the screen, but processing 10,000's of collisions every update proved to be poorly performing too.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Cheers