Frost Bolt: A frost bolt spell: a glowing ice crystal streaks across shedding snow mist, glitter and snowflakes, then bursts in a flash of crystal shards, chips and cold mist.

Frost Bolt

A frost bolt spell: a glowing ice crystal streaks across shedding snow mist, glitter and snowflakes, then bursts in a flash of crystal shards, chips and cold mist. Plays once per loop.

Frost Bolt is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 1.2 seconds, drawn on a 512 by 512 canvas. It is built from 14 particle emitters. Most layers blend additively, so it glows on dark backgrounds. Some particles draw ribbon trails.

Free download with a transparent background, cropped to the effect, 36 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 1.2, 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 1.2 s loop.

Frost Bolt at 8 moments, from 0 s to 1.05 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Frost Bolt stacks 14 particle emitters, each with its own job. Techniques worth a look: ribbon trails, sub-emitters set off by other particles and post filters (bloom and vignette).

It loops seamlessly every 1.2 s, and 4 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. To change its colour, select "Head Glow" in the studio and edit Colour A and Colour B. Size on the same layer sets how big its particles are.

Layers, in draw order

  1. Frost Wake, Head Glowparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.06 s. Colour: blue.
  2. Crystal HeadparticlesA single particle at 0.06 s. Colour: pale cyan.
  3. Hot Coreparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.06 s. Colour: white.
  4. Snow Mistparticles / additiveSoft glows set off by "Head Glow". They grow as they age and slow down with drag. Colour: pale blue.
  5. Glitterparticles / additiveSoft glows set off by "Head Glow". They fall under gravity and slow down with drag. Colours range between white and pale cyan.
  6. Shed Snowflakesparticles / additiveSnowflakes set off by "Head Glow". They fall under gravity, spin and slow down with drag. Colours range between white and pale blue.
  7. Burst Flashparticles / additiveSoft glows set off by "Crystal Head". They grow as they age. Colour: pale blue.
  8. Frost Ringparticles / additiveRings set off by "Crystal Head". They grow as they age. Colour: pale cyan.
  9. Crystal ShardsparticlesDebris set off by "Crystal Head". They fall under gravity, shrink as they age, turn to face where they move and slow down with drag. Colours range between white and pale blue.
  10. Ice ChipsparticlesShards set off by "Crystal Head". They fall under gravity, spin and slow down with drag. Colours range between white and blue.

3 more layers are in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
1.2 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
512 x 512, HD
Layers
14 emitters
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
whitebluepale bluepale cyan
Sprites
ParticleFX Originals by ParticleFX Studio (CC0), Kenney Particle Pack by Kenney (CC0)
Tags
frost bolt, ice, frost, projectile, spell, mage, freeze

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.

MORE Water & Ice

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