lightin for 2D flamethrower shuriken particle effect

let's say i have the particle effect above.
When fire button is pressed, fire starts shooting out fast until it reaches the distance in the image at which point the particle get too small and disappear. I want to create a lighting effect for the flamethrower but i have no idea how to go about it!

Am i right to think that particles cannot emit light in a simple non performance intensive way?

I was thinking of having a spot light start at the gun barrel and extend farther, the farther the fire goes, but it wouldnt work if i shot fire in bursts because there wouldn't be light for the little discontinuous bursts of fire.

Anyone know of a way to have the particles emit some simple light or something?

 

Use an additive texture. Additive textures don't need to be sorted so they are relatively cheap. Your background will need to be dark to see the glow.

 

additive ehh, yea i think i tried that before and it was too bright, but once i start messing with lighting and make the scene naturally darker it can work well i suppose. thanks.
If i get stuck on the materials part, ill post back.

 

So i tried additive and the fire looks great in pitch blackness but too bright with proper daylight lighting. Is there any way to make the fire on the right look like the fire on the left with the lighting conditions on the right?

Thanks.

 

is the only solution to make the scene dark and play around with lights creatively? kind of annoying but still look much better than having everything same brightness i guess...

 

The lighting/background on the right is probably a poor choice. It is brighter than the turret and has more detail, which draws your eye more to the background than the turret.

Another issue is the turret is flat shaded but the fire effect is detailed with colour gradients. Your artwork will look a lot better if you maintain a consistent style.

 

Oh that's just placeholder art trust me.
my more art oriented friend already made the background more mettalic dark grayish and a new turret sprite is on the way. The fire already looks pretty decent on the darker background.

Thanks for your help.