I came across this article
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/40966/what-is-simplest-way-to-join-particles-into-a-single-mesh-and-modify-during-anim
when searching for a way to allow particles to merge together in a controlled area. However, the boolean modifier doesn’t work for me and someone else commented the same thing in that question.
Is there an updated way to achieve this same effect?