Digital Derez: Digital derez effect for a 2D character sprite: it glitches and tears in RGB, blinks, then breaks into growing pixel blocks and bursts into cyan and magenta data bits before the bits gather and it re-forms.

Digital Derez

Digital derez effect for a 2D character sprite: it glitches and tears in RGB, blinks, then breaks into growing pixel blocks and bursts into cyan and magenta data bits before the bits gather and it re-forms. Loops. Swap in your own sprite. Sprite made with SpriteLab.

Digital Derez is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 2.4 seconds, drawn on a 320 by 320 canvas. It is built from 8 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, 72 frames at 30 fps. Use it in commercial games, no credit needed.

Roblox: the download is a flipbook for a ParticleEmitter. Set FlipbookLayout to Grid8x8, FlipbookMode to OneShot and Lifetime to 2.4, 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 STUDIOUSE MY SPRITE

Drop in your own character with Use my sprite: it takes the hero's place at the same height and the whole effect follows it. Change the colours, timing or size, or export for Unity, Godot 4, GameMaker, Phaser, PixiJS and Aseprite.

FRAME BY FRAME

8 evenly spaced moments across the 2.4 s loop.

Digital Derez at 8 moments, from 0 s to 2.1 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Digital Derez plays on a character sprite, with 8 particle emitters around it. The hero itself gets bounce, pixelate, RGB split, flicker, glow and colour flash. Techniques worth a look: sprite modules, an emitter shaped like an image, particles stretched along their motion, keyframed parameters and post filters (bloom).

It loops seamlessly every 2.4 s, and one layer fires in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. To change its colour, select "Derez Pop" in the studio and edit Colour A and Colour B. Size on the same layer sets how big its particles are. To see it on your own character, press Use my sprite in the studio: every layer follows the new sprite. The colour swatches by the downloads recolour every layer at once.

Layers, in draw order

  1. Engine Flame, Engine Flameparticles / additiveA stream of soft glows, its rate keyframed over the loop. They shrink as they age. Colours range between pale gold and orange.
  2. Scan Tearsparticles / additiveA stream of soft glows across a box, its rate keyframed over the loop. Colours range between cyan and magenta.
  3. HerospriteThe character sprite. Extras: bounce, pixelate, RGB split, flicker, glow and colour flash.
  4. Crackleparticles / additiveA stream of streaks in the shape of an image, its rate keyframed over the loop. Colours range between white and cyan.
  5. Data Bitsparticles / additiveA stream of squares in the shape of an image, its rate keyframed over the loop. They shrink as they age and slow down with drag. Colours range between cyan and magenta.
  6. Hull PixelsparticlesA stream of squares in the shape of an image, its rate keyframed over the loop. They slow down with drag. Colours range between pale gold and red.
  7. Derez Popparticles / additiveA single particle at 1.8 s. Colour: pale cyan.
  8. Gathering Bitsparticles / additiveA stream of squares from a ring, its rate keyframed over the loop. Colours range between cyan and white.

DETAILS

Length
2.4 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
320 x 320, HD
Layers
8 emitters
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
cyanpale goldwhitepale cyan
Sprites
Cast (Free to use)
Tags
derez, death, glitch, pixelate, digital, rgb split, enemy, spaceship, shmup, sprite, character

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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