Guard Break Shatter: Guard break for fighting games and action RPGs: a cel-shaded hex barrier pops up, cracks with a white flash under a heavy hit, then shatters into tumbling inked glass shards with a bead ring.

Guard Break Shatter

Guard break for fighting games and action RPGs: a cel-shaded hex barrier pops up, cracks with a white flash under a heavy hit, then shatters into tumbling inked glass shards with a bead ring.

Guard Break Shatter is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 1.2 seconds, drawn on a 256 by 256 canvas. It is built from 10 particle emitters.

Colour

Recolours the preview and the free downloads.

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.

Guard Break Shatter at 8 moments, from 0 s to 1.05 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Guard Break Shatter stacks 9 particle emitters, each with its own job. Techniques worth a look: sub-emitters set off by other particles and post filters (outline).

It loops seamlessly every 1.2 s, and 4 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 0.4 s, so the layers arrive one after another. It carries little colour of its own, so it takes a tint well: select "Cracks" and set 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. Hex ShieldparticlesA single particle at the start. Colour runs from white to blue over each life.
  2. Hex Shield BodyparticlesSmall shapes set off by "Hex Shield". They grow as they age. Colour runs from white to blue over each life.
  3. Hex Shield InnerparticlesSmall shapes set off by "Hex Shield". They grow as they age. Colour runs from white to pale cyan over each life.
  4. Hex Shield LightparticlesDots set off by "Hex Shield". They grow as they age. Colour: white.
  5. Cracksparticles2 timed bursts of shards, 7 in all. They grow as they age. Colour: black.
  6. Hit SpikesparticlesOne burst of 4 shards at 0.24 s. They swell and then shrink away. Colour runs from white to gold over each life.
  7. Break FlashparticlesFlipbook blasts set off by "Hex Shield". They swell and then shrink away. Colour runs from white to pale cyan over each life.
  8. ShardsparticlesShards set off by "Hex Shield". They fall under gravity, shrink as they age, spin and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to blue over each life.
  9. Bead RingparticlesOne burst of 28 dots from a ring at 0.4 s. They shrink as they age and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to pale cyan over each life.

DETAILS

Length
1.2 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
256 x 256, HD
Layers
10 emitters
Blend
Mostly normal
Colours
whitebluepale cyanorange
Sprites
ParticleFX Originals by ParticleFX Studio (CC0)
Tags
guard break, shield break, shatter, block, fighting game, barrier, parry, anime

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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