Pixel Art Charge Attack: Pixel art charge attack: motes rush in and flames of gold light lick up around the hero while rings pulse and bolts crackle, then a white flash releases a nova of shockwave rings, dust, light spokes and sparks.

Pixel Art Charge Attack

Pixel art charge attack: motes rush in and flames of gold light lick up around the hero while rings pulse and bolts crackle, then a white flash releases a nova of shockwave rings, dust, light spokes and sparks. Use it for charged attacks, power-ups and super moves in action games and fighting games; it plays once, then loops.

Pixel Art Charge Attack is a pixel art effect that loops seamlessly every 2.2 seconds, drawn on a 384 by 384 canvas at 3x pixels. It is built from 11 particle emitters, 4 lightning bolts and 12 glowing strokes. Most layers blend additively, so it glows on dark backgrounds.

Free download with a transparent background, cropped to the effect, 66 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 2.2, 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 2.2 s loop.

Pixel Art Charge Attack at 8 moments, from 0 s to 1.93 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Pixel Art Charge Attack is drawn with 12 glowing strokes, lines with a hot core and a soft glow traced along their shapes, plus 11 particle emitters. Techniques worth a look: procedural lightning, magnets, collisions, particles stretched along their motion and post filters (bloom and colour grade). 3 scene layers (ground and props) show in the studio for context and stay out of every export.

It loops seamlessly every 2.2 s, and 7 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 1.22 s, so the layers arrive one after another. The bolts strike on their own timers, every 0.14 to 0.23 s. To recolour the line, select "Charge ring far" and change Core and Glow; Start and End set how much of it is drawn. Pixel size in the Pixel art panel sets how chunky it looks.

Layers, in draw order

  1. Floor lightparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.05 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: gold.
  2. Charge ring far, Charge ring far, Charge ring far +9stroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle.
  3. Aura behind, Aura in frontparticles / additiveA stream of soft glows from a ring, its rate keyframed over the loop. They are pulled toward a magnet, float upward and swell and then shrink away. Colour runs from white to orange over each life.
  4. Gathering motesparticles / additiveA stream of streaks from a ring, its rate keyframed over the loop. Colour runs from white to gold over each life.
  5. Cracklelightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking downward every 0.14 s. It forks into branches.
  6. Cracklelightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking downward every 0.17 s. It forks into branches.
  7. Cracklelightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking sideways every 0.2 s. It forks into branches.
  8. Cracklelightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking upward every 0.23 s. It forks into branches.
  9. Light spokesparticles / additiveOne burst of 20 streaks across a box at 1.2 s. They slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to gold over each life.
  10. Dust ringparticlesOne burst of 18 smoke puffs from a ring at 1.22 s. They grow as they age and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to orange over each life.

5 more layers are in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
2.2 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
384 x 384, pixel art at 3x
Layers
11 emitters, 4 lightning bolts and 12 glowing strokes
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
goldwhitepale goldorange
Sprites
Kenney Smoke Particles by Kenney (CC0), Heroes by SpriteLab micro mode (Free to use)
Tags
pixel art, charge attack, charge up, power up, aura, nova, shockwave

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 Pixel Art Combat

Pixel Art Acid Splash particle effectPixel Art Acid SplashPixel Art Arrow Rain particle effectPixel Art Arrow RainPixel Art Axe Throw particle effectPixel Art Axe ThrowPixel Art Bite Attack particle effectPixel Art Bite AttackPixel Art Blood Hit particle effectPixel Art Blood HitPixel Art Blue Fireball particle effectPixel Art Blue FireballPixel Art Bomb Explosion particle effectPixel Art Bomb ExplosionPixel Art Boomerang particle effectPixel Art Boomerang

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Pixel Art Aura particle effectPixel Art AuraPixel Art Level Up Aura particle effectPixel Art Level Up AuraAnime Aura Flare particle effectAnime Aura FlareAnime Charge Up particle effectAnime Charge UpAnime Golden Aura particle effectAnime Golden AuraAnime Power-Up Aura particle effectAnime Power-Up Aura

All Pixel Art Combat effects or the full library.