the speed... whent he particles are in view, the frame rate drops... then speeds up when they are no longer being rendered..
Really the answer is to opt for a realistic limit and distribute them evenly so the limit is never exceeded no matter how many generators are asking to spit particles out. Make the system scalable and it should please those with beefy and [cough!] "less beefy" cards alike.
i think i went overboard in the application of OO to everything in the game
Bwa-ha-HAAAAAAA! Dude, I totally TOLD YOU SO! :P Nail down everything you reasonably can, then superglue it, then put some more nails in it for good measure. Sod reusability (so what if you can't use your sub game as the basis for a mountaineering sim?) and get it running fast 'n' dirty! You know you want to.