Ice Barrier

Ice barrier effect for a 2D character sprite: a translucent icy bubble closes around it with ice crystals circling its waist, its armour gets a cold inner glow and a white outline, and a gleam sweeps across it. Loops. Swap in your own sprite. Sprite made with SpriteLab.

Ice Barrier is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 2.4 seconds, drawn on a 320 by 320 canvas. It is built from 6 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, 72 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 2.4, 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 2.4 s loop.

HOW IT'S MADE

Ice Barrier plays on a character sprite, with 6 particle emitters around it. The hero itself gets glow, outline, shine sweep and bounce. Techniques worth a look: sprite modules, paths, keyframed parameters and post filters (bloom).

Every layer emits continuously and the 2.4 s loop closes seamlessly, so it can run for as long as you need. To change its colour, select "Cold Aura" 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

Cold Aura, Dome Fillparticles / additiveA steady stream of soft glows. Colour: blue.
Frost MistparticlesA steady stream of smoke puffs along a line. They grow as they age. Colours range between pale blue and blue.
Ice Crystal, Ice Crystal, Ice Crystal +9sprite / additiveA placed image. Extras: glow and path ride.
HerospriteThe character sprite. Extras: glow, outline, shine sweep and bounce.
Dome Rimparticles / additiveA steady stream of soft glows from a ring. Colour: pale cyan.
Dome Gleamparticles / additiveA steady stream of soft glows from a ring. They orbit the emitter. Colours range between white and pale blue.
Frost Sparklesparticles / additiveA steady stream of stars from a disc. They swell and then shrink away. Colours range between white and pale cyan.

DETAILS

Length: 2.4 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas: 320 x 320, HD
Layers: 6 emitters
Blend: Mostly additive (glows)
Colours: bluepale cyanwhitepale blue
Sprites: ParticleFX Originals by ParticleFX Studio (CC0), Kenney Particle Pack by Kenney (CC0), Heroes by SpriteLab micro mode (Free to use)
Tags: shield, barrier, ice, frost, buff, defense, protect, aura, knight, 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.