Energy Circle: An energy circle on the ground for RPG casts and summons: glowing rings and rune tracks counter-rotate in 3/4 view, light pillars and motes rise from the rim, and a pulse wave ripples out as it charges.

Energy Circle

An energy circle on the ground for RPG casts and summons: glowing rings and rune tracks counter-rotate in 3/4 view, light pillars and motes rise from the rim, and a pulse wave ripples out as it charges. Seamless loop.

Energy Circle is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 2.4 seconds, drawn on a 512 by 512 canvas. It is built from 10 particle emitters. Most layers blend additively, so it glows on dark backgrounds. Some particles draw ribbon trails.

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 STUDIO

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.

Energy Circle at 8 moments, from 0 s to 2.1 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Energy Circle stacks 10 particle emitters, each with its own job. Techniques worth a look: ribbon trails, sprite modules, paths, particles stretched along their motion and post filters (bloom).

It loops seamlessly every 2.4 s, and 2 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. To change its colour, select "Light Curtain" 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. Floor Glow, Core Glowsprite / additiveA placed glow.
  2. Outer Ring, Outer Band, Middle Ring +1sprite / additiveA placed image. Extras: colour flash.
  3. Sigil, Star Sigil, Star Sigil Glowsprite / additiveA placed image.
  4. Rune Trackparticles / additiveA steady stream of shards. They travel along a path. Colour: white.
  5. Rune Trackparticles / additiveA steady stream of shards. They travel along a path. Colour: pale violet.
  6. Orbit Streaks, Orbit Streaksparticles / additiveA steady stream of ribbon trails. They travel along a path. Colours range between white and pale cyan.
  7. Light Curtainparticles / additiveA stream of soft glows from a ring, its rate keyframed over the loop. They grow as they age. Colours range between blue and cyan.
  8. Light Pillarsparticles / additiveA stream of slash marks from a ring, its rate keyframed over the loop. They grow as they age. Colours range between pale cyan and cyan.
  9. Rising Motesparticles / additiveA stream of streaks from a ring, its rate keyframed over the loop. They sway from side to side. Colour runs from white to pale cyan over each life.
  10. Core Motesparticles / additiveA steady stream of soft glows from a disc. Colours range between pale violet and white.

2 more layers are in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
2.4 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
512 x 512, HD
Layers
10 emitters
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
whitepale cyanpale violetcyan
Sprites
Kenney Particle Pack by Kenney (CC0)
Tags
energy circle, magic circle, summoning, rune, ground, spell, portal, aura

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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