Heat Haze

Idle heat for any fiery character sprite: the sprite itself shimmers in rising heat haze with its feet still, glows and breathes, with embers, flame licks and dark heat above it. Loops. Swap in your own sprite. Sprite made with SpriteLab.

Heat Haze is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 2 seconds, drawn on a 320 by 320 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, 60 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, then emit one particle per cycle. Roblox setup.

Engine data for Unity, Godot, GameMaker and Aseprite comes with a plan: open it in the studio.

OPEN IN THE STUDIO USE 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 s loop.

HOW IT'S MADE

Heat Haze plays on a character sprite, with 4 particle emitters around it. The hero itself gets wave distortion, glow, colour flash and bounce. Techniques worth a look: sprite modules, turbulence, keyframed parameters and post filters (bloom).

Every layer emits continuously and the 2 s loop closes seamlessly, so it can run for as long as you need. To change its colour, select "Under Glow" 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

Under Glowparticles / additiveA steady stream of soft glows. Colour: orange.
Heat ShimmerparticlesA steady stream of smoke puffs across a box. They wander on turbulence and grow as they age. Colour: deep orange.
HerospriteThe character sprite. Extras: wave distortion, glow, colour flash and bounce.
Embersparticles / additiveA steady stream of soft glows across a box. They wander on turbulence. Colours range between gold and orange.
Flame Licksparticles / additiveA steady stream of flames across a box. They swell and then shrink away. Colour: orange.

DETAILS

Length: 2 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas: 320 x 320, HD
Layers: 4 emitters
Blend: Mostly additive (glows)
Colours: orangedeep orangegold
Sprites: Kenney Particle Pack by Kenney (CC0), Cast (Free to use)
Tags: heat, haze, shimmer, fire, idle, lava, golem, distortion, 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.

MORE Sprite FX

All Sprite FX effects or the full library.