Energy Shield Mesh: An energy shield for sci-fi barriers, force fields and power-ups: a fine mesh of linked nodes crackles inside a bright chained rim, faint triangles shimmering as it drifts, while hit ripples flare on the rim.

Energy Shield Mesh

An energy shield for sci-fi barriers, force fields and power-ups: a fine mesh of linked nodes crackles inside a bright chained rim, faint triangles shimmering as it drifts, while hit ripples flare on the rim. Seamless loop.

Energy Shield Mesh is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 4 seconds, drawn on a 512 by 512 canvas. It is built from 4 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, 120 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 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.

Try variations: new colours, motion and shapes of this effect, free in the studio.

FRAME BY FRAME

8 evenly spaced moments across the 4 s loop.

Energy Shield Mesh at 8 moments, from 0 s to 3.5 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Energy Shield Mesh is a compact effect made from 4 particle emitters. Techniques worth a look: lines that connect nearby particles, Plexus style, paths and post filters (bloom).

It loops seamlessly every 4 s, and 2 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 2.3 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To change its colour, select "Hit Ripple A" 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. Bubble Glowsprite / additiveA placed glow.
  2. Rim Glowsprite / additiveA placed image.
  3. Rim Nodesparticles / additiveA steady stream of soft glows. They are joined to their nearest neighbours by lines and travel along a path. Colour: white.
  4. Dome Meshparticles / additiveA steady stream of soft glows from a disc. They are wired to "Rim Nodes" by lines, are joined to their nearest neighbours by lines and sway from side to side. Colours range between pale cyan and blue.
  5. Hit Ripple Aparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.4 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: pale cyan.
  6. Hit Ripple Bparticles / additiveA single particle at 2.3 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: pale cyan.

DETAILS

Length
4 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
512 x 512, HD
Layers
4 emitters
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
pale cyanwhiteblue
Sprites
Kenney Particle Pack by Kenney (CC0)
Tags
energy shield, force field, barrier, bubble shield, shield, sci-fi, circle, 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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