Pixel Art Checkpoint Flag: Pixel art checkpoint flag: touching the pole flashes a floor ring, the flag shoots up, turns emerald and flashes, sparkles spiral up round the pole and the base glow pulses.

Pixel Art Checkpoint Flag

Pixel art checkpoint flag: touching the pole flashes a floor ring, the flag shoots up, turns emerald and flashes, sparkles spiral up round the pole and the base glow pulses. Use it for checkpoints, save points and respawn markers in platformers and metroidvanias.

Pixel Art Checkpoint Flag is a pixel art effect that loops seamlessly every 3.2 seconds, drawn on a 384 by 384 canvas at 3x pixels. It is built from 17 particle emitters and 10 glowing strokes. Most layers blend additively, so it glows on dark backgrounds.

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.

Pixel Art Checkpoint Flag at 8 moments, from 0 s to 2.8 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Pixel Art Checkpoint Flag is drawn with 10 glowing strokes, lines with a hot core and a soft glow traced along their shapes, plus 17 particle emitters. Techniques worth a look: sprite modules, paths, collisions, particles stretched along their motion and post filters (colour grade). 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 10 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 0.79 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To recolour the line, select "Base 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 glow, Base glowparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.34 s. Colour: green.
  2. Base ring far, Base ring far, Base ring far +6stroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle.
  3. Spiral motes back, Spiral motes back, Spiral motes front +1particles / additiveA stream of streaks, its rate keyframed over the loop. They travel along a path. Colour runs from white to green over each life.
  4. Spiral glints back, Spiral glints frontparticles / additiveA stream of sparks, its rate keyframed over the loop. They travel along a path and swell and then shrink away. Colours range between white and pale green.
  5. PolespriteA placed image.
  6. Pole lightstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a path. Its start and end are keyframed, so it writes itself on and off.
  7. FlagspriteA placed image. Extras: colour adjust, shine sweep, hit flash and keyframed motion.
  8. Base flashparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.34 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: white.
  9. Base sparksparticles / additiveOne burst of 12 streaks at 0.34 s. They fall under gravity, bounce when they hit something and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to green over each life.
  10. Flag glowparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.74 s. Colour: green.

6 more layers are in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
3.2 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
384 x 384, pixel art at 3x
Layers
17 emitters and 10 glowing strokes
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
greenwhitepale green
Sprites
Built-in shapes only
Tags
pixel art, pixel, vfx, checkpoint, flag, save point, respawn, platformer, metroidvania, activate, ui

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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