Ice Crystal Growth: Ice crystals grow out of the ground one after another with a springy pop, glint under a cold glow and rime ring, then melt upward into sparkles.

Ice Crystal Growth

Ice crystals grow out of the ground one after another with a springy pop, glint under a cold glow and rime ring, then melt upward into sparkles. Plays once per loop.

Ice Crystal Growth is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 3.2 seconds, drawn on a 384 by 384 canvas. It is built from 14 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, 96 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 3.2, 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 3.2 s loop.

Ice Crystal Growth at 8 moments, from 0 s to 2.8 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Ice Crystal Growth stacks 14 particle emitters, each with its own job. Techniques worth a look: sprite modules, a sprite dissolve, keyframed parameters and post filters (bloom and vignette). 2 scene layers (ground and props) show in the studio for context and stay out of every export.

It loops seamlessly every 3.2 s, and 5 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 0.68 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To change its colour, select "Cold Mist" in the studio and edit 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. Rime RingparticlesA single long-lived particle that stays for the whole loop. It grows as it ages.
  2. Base Glowparticles / additiveA single long-lived particle that stays for the whole loop.
  3. Crystal 1, Crystal 2, Crystal 3 +2spriteA placed image. Extras: bounce, glow, shine sweep and dissolve.
  4. Melt Glitter, Melt Glitter, Melt Glitter +2particles / additiveA steady stream of soft glows from the sprite's dissolving edge. They sway from side to side. Colours range between white and pale cyan.
  5. Pop Glintsparticles / additiveOne burst of 4 stars from a disc at 0.2 s. They swell and then shrink away. Colours range between white and pale cyan.
  6. Pop Glintsparticles / additiveOne burst of 4 stars from a disc at 0.38 s. They swell and then shrink away. Colours range between white and pale cyan.
  7. Pop Glintsparticles / additiveOne burst of 4 stars from a disc at 0.48 s. They swell and then shrink away. Colours range between white and pale cyan.
  8. Pop Glintsparticles / additiveOne burst of 4 stars from a disc at 0.6 s. They swell and then shrink away. Colours range between white and pale cyan.
  9. Pop Glintsparticles / additiveOne burst of 4 stars from a disc at 0.68 s. They swell and then shrink away. Colours range between white and pale cyan.
  10. Cold Mistparticles / additiveA stream of soft glows along a line, its rate keyframed over the loop. They grow as they age. Colour: blue.

One more layer is in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
3.2 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
384 x 384, HD
Layers
14 emitters
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
whitepale cyanbluepale blue
Sprites
ParticleFX Originals by ParticleFX Studio (CC0), Kenney Particle Pack by Kenney (CC0)
Tags
ice, crystal, growth, frost, spell, cave, resource

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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