Boss Armor Break

HOW IT'S MADE

Boss Armor Break stacks 11 particle emitters, each with its own job. Techniques worth a look: particles stretched along their motion, keyframed parameters and post filters (bloom).

It loops seamlessly every 3 s, and 10 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 2.39 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To change its colour, select "Break flash" 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. Core glowsprite / additiveA placed glow. Extras: keyframed motion.
2. CorespriteA placed image.
3. Armor breaksparticlesOne burst of 22 shards at 0.66 s. They are flung outward and fall under gravity.
4. Glancing hitparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.18 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: pale gold.
5. Glancing sparksparticles / additiveOne burst of 14 streaks at 0.18 s. They fall under gravity. Colours range between white and orange.
6. Glancing hitparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.36 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: pale gold.
7. Glancing sparksparticles / additiveOne burst of 14 streaks at 0.36 s. They fall under gravity. Colours range between white and orange.
8. Break flashparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.66 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: pale orange.
9. Break sparksparticles / additiveOne burst of 40 streaks from a disc at 0.66 s. They slow down with drag. Colours range between white and orange.
10. Core embersparticles / additiveA stream of soft glows from a disc, its rate keyframed over the loop. They slow down with drag. Colours range between gold and orange.

3 more layers are in the studio.