Midair Fireball Explosion: A classic midair explosion for sprite sheets and GIFs: a white flash and shock ring, a round fireball that swells and cools to soot, sparks and burning debris trailing smoke, then grey smoke that rises and clears.

Midair Fireball Explosion

A classic midair explosion for sprite sheets and GIFs: a white flash and shock ring, a round fireball that swells and cools to soot, sparks and burning debris trailing smoke, then grey smoke that rises and clears.

Midair Fireball Explosion is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 1.4 seconds, drawn on a 512 by 512 canvas. It is built from 13 particle emitters. Most layers blend additively, so it glows on dark backgrounds.

Free download with a transparent background, cropped to the effect, 42 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 1.4, 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.

FRAME BY FRAME

8 evenly spaced moments across the 1.4 s loop.

Midair Fireball Explosion at 8 moments, from 0 s to 1.22 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Midair Fireball Explosion stacks 13 particle emitters, each with its own job. Techniques worth a look: sub-emitters set off by other particles, turbulence, particles stretched along their motion and post filters (bloom).

It loops seamlessly every 1.4 s, and 11 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0.02 s to 0.14 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To change its colour, select "Fire Body" in the studio and edit the Colour over Life gradient. Size on the same layer sets how big its particles are.

Layers, in draw order

  1. Debris Smoke TrailparticlesSmoke puffs set off by "Burning Debris". They grow as they age. Colours range between grey and dark grey.
  2. Rising SmokeparticlesOne burst of 16 smoke puffs from a disc at 0.14 s. They float upward, grow as they age, spin and slow down with drag. Colour runs from orange to grey over each life.
  3. Fireball PuffsparticlesOne burst of 18 flipbook blasts from a disc at 0.02 s. They float upward, grow as they age, spin and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to red over each life.
  4. Fire Bodyparticles / additiveOne burst of 16 flames from a disc at 0.02 s. They float upward, grow as they age, spin and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to orange over each life.
  5. Hot Coreparticles / additiveOne burst of 8 flames from a disc at 0.04 s. They float upward, spin and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to pale gold over each life.
  6. Fire Glowparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.02 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: orange.
  7. Flashparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.02 s. Colour: white.
  8. Flash Starparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.02 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: white.
  9. Shock Ringparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.03 s. It grows as it ages. Colour runs from white to pale orange over each life.
  10. Sparksparticles / additiveOne burst of 56 streaks from a disc at 0.02 s. They fall under gravity and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to orange over each life.

3 more layers are in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
1.4 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
512 x 512, HD
Layers
13 emitters
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
whiteorangepale goldpale orange
Sprites
Kenney Particle Pack by Kenney (CC0), Kenney Smoke Particles by Kenney (CC0)
Tags
explosion, explosion gif, sprite sheet, fireball, blast, midair, smoke, sparks

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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