Anime Lightning Step: A lightning dash for anime battlegrounds and fighting games: a thick gold bolt cracks along the dash path, a white streak shoots along it, sparks fizz off the trail and bursts mark both ends.

Anime Lightning Step

A lightning dash for anime battlegrounds and fighting games: a thick gold bolt cracks along the dash path, a white streak shoots along it, sparks fizz off the trail and bursts mark both ends. Plays once, then clears.

Anime Lightning Step is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 0.8 seconds, drawn on a 512 by 512 canvas. It is built from 9 particle emitters and 2 lightning bolts. Most layers blend additively, so it glows on dark backgrounds.

Colour

Recolours the preview and the free downloads.

Free download with a transparent background, cropped to the effect, 24 frames at 30 fps. Use it in commercial games, no credit needed.

Licence: use it in any project, including paid commercial games such as a game sold on Steam. There is no per-project licence to buy and no credit needed. Terms.

Roblox: the download is a flipbook for a ParticleEmitter. Set FlipbookLayout to Grid8x8, FlipbookMode to OneShot and Lifetime to 0.8, then emit one particle per cycle. Roblox setup.

REMIX WITH AI

Try:

Left empty, it just opens in the agent, free. Each change is one AI build, and you start with free builds.

Engine data for Unity, Godot, GameMaker and Aseprite comes with a plan: open it in the studio.

OPEN IN THE STUDIO

Change the colours, timing or size, or export for Unity, Godot 4, GameMaker, Phaser, PixiJS and Aseprite.

Try variations: new colours, motion and shapes of this effect, free in the studio.

FRAME BY FRAME

8 evenly spaced moments across the 0.8 s loop.

Anime Lightning Step at 8 moments, from 0 s to 0.7 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Anime Lightning Step gets its crackle from 2 lightning bolts (a new jagged path on every strike), backed by 9 particle emitters. Techniques worth a look: particles stretched along their motion, keyframed parameters and post filters (bloom and impact frames).

It loops seamlessly every 0.8 s, and 6 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 0.13 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To change its colour, select "Body Streak" in the studio and edit Colour A and Colour B. Size on the same layer sets how big its particles are. The colour swatches by the downloads recolour every layer at once.

Layers, in draw order

  1. Step Bolt, Thin Boltlightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking sideways every 0.8 s. It forks into branches.
  2. Body Streakparticles / additiveA stream of soft glows, its rate keyframed over the loop. They shrink as they age. Colours range between white and pale gold.
  3. Path Sparksparticles / additiveA stream of streaks along a line, its rate keyframed over the loop. They fall under gravity and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to gold over each life.
  4. Hit Flashparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.03 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: pale gold.
  5. Hit Flashparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.1 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: white.
  6. Shockwaveparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.03 s. It grows as it ages. Colour runs from white to gold over each life.
  7. Shockwaveparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.1 s. It grows as it ages. Colour runs from white to gold over each life.
  8. Arrival Burstparticles / additiveOne burst of 30 streaks at 0.1 s. They fall under gravity and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to gold over each life.
  9. Stray Arcsparticles / additiveA stream of sparks across a box, its rate keyframed over the loop. Colours range between pale gold and gold.
  10. Static Motesparticles / additiveOne burst of 14 soft glows from a disc at 0.13 s. They shrink as they age and slow down with drag. Colours range between pale gold and gold.

DETAILS

Length
0.8 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
512 x 512, HD
Layers
9 emitters and 2 lightning bolts
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
whitepale goldgoldorange
Sprites
Kenney Particle Pack by Kenney (CC0)
Tags
lightning, dash, thunder step, anime, battlegrounds, electric, speed, yellow

USING IT IN YOUR GAME

Phaser, PixiJS
The PNG sheet is a plain grid of frames that both can slice. A TexturePacker JSON atlas comes with a plan, from the studio.
Unity
Import the PNG sheet as a Sprite with Mode set to Multiple and slice it, or open the effect in the studio for a ready-made grid.
Godot 4, GameMaker, Aseprite
Open it in the studio and pick your engine in Export: with a plan, it writes the files that engine imports.
Web and chat
The GIF plays anywhere; the APNG keeps soft edges on any background.
Blend mode
This effect is made of light. For the same glow in your game, draw the sprite with additive blending, or export it on black from the studio for additive shaders.

Step by step: Unity, Godot 4, Roblox, GameMaker, Phaser and PixiJS, Aseprite, Web games (live runtime). Drawn with additive blending: see glow effects without a black box.

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