Constellation Star Map: A slowly panning constellation star map: bright stars drift together, joined to their nearest neighbours by fine pale lines that keep their shapes, over twinkling background stars and a faint nebula.

Constellation Star Map

A slowly panning constellation star map: bright stars drift together, joined to their nearest neighbours by fine pale lines that keep their shapes, over twinkling background stars and a faint nebula. For space games, planetarium menus and zodiac UI. Seamless loop.

Constellation Star Map is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 10 seconds, drawn on a 512 by 512 canvas. It is built from 3 particle emitters. 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, 300 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 10, 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 10 s loop.

Constellation Star Map at 8 moments, from 0 s to 8.75 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Constellation Star Map is a compact effect made from 3 particle emitters. Techniques worth a look: lines that connect nearby particles, Plexus style and post filters (bloom).

Every layer emits continuously and the 10 s loop closes seamlessly, so it can run for as long as you need. To change its colour, select "Nebula Wash" 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. Nebula Washparticles / additiveA steady stream of smoke puffs across a box. Colours range between deep blue and deep violet.
  2. Background Starsparticles / additiveA steady stream of soft glows across a box. Colours range between pale blue and white.
  3. Constellation Starsparticles / additiveA steady stream of stars across a box. They are joined to their nearest neighbours by lines. Colours range between white and pale gold.

DETAILS

Length
10 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
512 x 512, HD
Layers
3 emitters
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
whitedeep bluepale bluedeep violet
Sprites
Kenney Particle Pack by Kenney (CC0)
Tags
constellation, star map, stars, zodiac, space, night sky, astrology, plexus

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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