Hurricane (Top-Down): Top-down hurricane: cloud bands spiral in toward a clear eye with rain streaks winding round them and lightning flickering in the bands.

Hurricane (Top-Down)

Top-down hurricane: cloud bands spiral in toward a clear eye with rain streaks winding round them and lightning flickering in the bands. For strategy maps and weather events. Loops perfectly.

Hurricane (Top-Down) is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 4 seconds, drawn on a 512 by 512 canvas. It is built from 1 simulated smoke and fire layer, 4 particle emitters and 3 lightning bolts. Most layers blend additively, so it glows on dark backgrounds.

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.

Hurricane (Top-Down) at 8 moments, from 0 s to 3.5 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Hurricane (Top-Down) is built around a fluid simulation of smoke on a grid, with 4 particle emitters on top. Techniques worth a look: particles feeding the fluid, procedural lightning, a vortex and magnets.

Every layer emits continuously and the 4 s loop closes seamlessly, so it can run for as long as you need. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 2.6 s, so the layers arrive one after another. The bolts strike on their own timers, every 1.33 to 4 s. To thicken or thin the smoke, select "Cloud Bands" and change Smoke and Smoke fade.

Layers, in draw order

  1. Cloud BandsfluidSimulated smoke from a ring. "Arm Feeders 1", "Arm Feeders 2" and "Arm Feeders 3" feed it. It turns in a vortex.
  2. Arm Feeders 1, Arm Feeders 2, Arm Feeders 3particles / additiveA steady stream of soft glows from a disc. The emitter itself travels along a path. They swirl around a vortex, feed smoke and heat into the fluid and slow down with drag. Colours range between orange and gold.
  3. Rain Armsparticles / additiveA steady stream of streaks from a disc. They spiral into a vortex, are swallowed by a magnet at its centre and slow down with drag. Colours range between white and pale blue.
  4. Band Lightninglightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking downward every 1.33 s. It forks into branches.
  5. Band Lightninglightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking upward every 2 s. It forks into branches.
  6. Band Lightninglightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking sideways every 4 s. It forks into branches.

DETAILS

Length
4 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
512 x 512, HD
Layers
4 emitters and 3 lightning bolts
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
whiteorangegoldpale blue
Sprites
Built-in shapes only
Tags
hurricane, cyclone, storm, top-down, weather, map, wind, loop

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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