Merge Items Burst

HOW IT'S MADE

Merge Items Burst stacks 7 particle emitters, each with its own job. Techniques worth a look: glowing strokes traced along shapes, sprite modules, particles stretched along their motion, keyframed parameters and post filters (bloom).

It loops seamlessly every 1.8 s, and 4 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 1.58 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To change its colour, select "Merge Flash" 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. Purple Glowsprite / additiveA placed glow. Extras: keyframed motion.
2. Rush Trail, Rush Trailparticles / additiveA stream of soft glows from a disc, its rate keyframed over the loop. They shrink as they age. Colours range between pale blue and blue.
3. Gem Left, Gem RightspriteA placed image. Extras: keyframed motion.
4. Merge Flashparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.6 s. It grows as it ages. Colours range between white and pale violet.
5. Merge Ringstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle.
6. Merge Sparksparticles / additiveOne burst of 36 streaks from a disc at 0.6 s. They slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to violet over each life.
7. Merged GemspriteA placed image. Extras: bounce, shine sweep and glow.
8. Orbit Sparklesparticles / additiveA stream of stars from a ring, its rate keyframed over the loop. They orbit the emitter and swell and then shrink away. Colours range between white and pale violet.
9. Pop Starsparticles / additiveOne burst of 10 stars from a disc at 0.62 s. They swell and then shrink away, spin and slow down with drag. Colours range between white and pale violet.
10. Out Poofparticles / additiveOne burst of 16 soft glows from a disc at 1.58 s. They shrink as they age and slow down with drag. Colours range between white and pale violet.