The "Laser Beam"

I'm trying to decide on a decent way to create a destructo-beam for the UFO. So far I've settled on a simple piece of geometry (soon to be replaced by good art from Dave), with some particles emitting along the laser's axis (the laser will shoot straight down toward the Earth) for a glow effect.

My first version of the laser "texture", if you will, actually made a decent-looking suck-beam. (Can you tell we haven't finalized the weapon names yet?) So I may create something similar for the suck-up-beam. This doesn't mean much without anything to see, I realize. Screenshots soon, once I integrate the LaserBeamComponent into the engine. Next will come the component that gets applied to any object that can be destroyed by the Destructo-Beam. Hopefully by the end of this weekend, we'll have a UFO that can shoot destructo-beams toward the Earth and blow up the farmer's house.

We'll need a damage meter for the house... hmm...