Just code it by hand, has always worked best for me. Simply analyze a few effects you like and decompose them in their sub-effects. Then, write a function, e.g. do_explosion(VECTOR* pos), that starts certain particle and sprite effects over the timespan of 0.5 seconds or so.
"Falls das Resultat nicht einfach nur dermassen gut aussieht, sollten Sie nochmal von vorn anfangen..." - Manual
