Dark Impact Frame: Dark impact frame for heavy critical hits: four frames of black, red and white where black lightning forks across the white, then a white-hot core in a crimson burst with black spikes, red sparks and black focus lines.

Dark Impact Frame

Dark impact frame for heavy critical hits: four frames of black, red and white where black lightning forks across the white, then a white-hot core in a crimson burst with black spikes, red sparks and black focus lines.

Dark Impact Frame is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 0.5 seconds, drawn on a 256 by 256 canvas. It is built from 9 particle emitters and 6 lightning bolts.

Colour

Recolours the preview and the free downloads.

Free download with a transparent background, cropped to the effect, 15 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 Grid4x4, FlipbookMode to OneShot and Lifetime to 0.5, 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 0.5 s loop.

Dark Impact Frame at 8 moments, from 0 s to 0.44 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Dark Impact Frame gets its crackle from 6 lightning bolts (a new jagged path on every strike), backed by 8 particle emitters. Techniques worth a look: keyframed parameters and post filters (outline and impact frames).

It loops seamlessly every 0.5 s, and 8 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 0.18 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To change its colour, select "Black Spikes" in the studio and edit the Colour over Life gradient. 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. Burst Crimson, Burst RedparticlesA single particle at the start. It swells and then shrinks away. Colour runs from white to red over each life.
  2. Hot CoreparticlesA single particle at the start. It swells and then shrinks away. Colour runs from white to pale red over each life.
  3. Impact SilhouetteparticlesA single particle at the start. Colour: white.
  4. Black SpikesparticlesOne burst of 10 shards at the start. They swell and then shrink away. Colour runs from white to black over each life.
  5. Red SparksparticlesOne burst of 24 streaks at 0.02 s. They shrink as they age and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to red over each life.
  6. Bead RingparticlesOne burst of 34 dots from a ring at 0.07 s. They shrink as they age and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to deep red over each life.
  7. Black Bolt 1, Black Bolt 3, Black Bolt 6lightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking sideways every 1 s. It forks into branches. Each strike lands somewhere new.
  8. Black Bolt 2, Black Bolt 5lightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking upward every 1 s. It forks into branches. Each strike lands somewhere new.
  9. Black Bolt 4lightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking downward every 1 s. It forks into branches. Each strike lands somewhere new.
  10. Focus LinesparticlesBursts of 70 streaks from a ring every 0.05 s. Colour: black.

DETAILS

Length
0.5 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
256 x 256, HD
Layers
9 emitters and 6 lightning bolts
Blend
Mostly normal
Colours
whiteredorangegold
Sprites
ParticleFX Originals by ParticleFX Studio (CC0)
Tags
impact frame, black lightning, critical hit, anime, dark, red, manga, finisher

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.

Step by step: Unity, Godot 4, Roblox, GameMaker, Phaser and PixiJS, Aseprite, Web games (live runtime).

More free cartoon and anime effects, and how to make your own: 2D cartoon FX.

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