Pixel Art Combo Counter: Pixel art combo counter: x2, x3 and x4 punch in on the beat in a pixel font, each bigger and hotter than the last, with hit flashes, rings, rays and sparks before the x4 bursts apart.

Pixel Art Combo Counter

Pixel art combo counter: x2, x3 and x4 punch in on the beat in a pixel font, each bigger and hotter than the last, with hit flashes, rings, rays and sparks before the x4 bursts apart. Use it for hit combos, score multipliers and streaks in brawlers, action games and arcade games.

Pixel Art Combo Counter is a pixel art effect that loops seamlessly every 2.4 seconds, drawn on a 384 by 288 canvas at 3x pixels. It is built from 18 particle emitters, 25 glowing strokes and 4 text layers. 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, 72 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 2.4, 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.

Try variations: new colours, motion and shapes of this effect, free in the studio.

FRAME BY FRAME

8 evenly spaced moments across the 2.4 s loop.

Pixel Art Combo Counter at 8 moments, from 0 s to 2.1 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Pixel Art Combo Counter is drawn with 25 glowing strokes, lines with a hot core and a soft glow traced along their shapes, plus 18 particle emitters. Techniques worth a look: styled text animated letter by letter, particles stretched along their motion, keyframed parameters and post filters (colour grade).

It loops seamlessly every 2.4 s, and 14 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 2.02 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To recolour the line, select "Light ray" 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. The colour swatches by the downloads recolour every layer at once.

Layers, in draw order

  1. Glow x2particles / additiveA single particle at 0.1 s. Colour: cyan.
  2. Hold glow x2particles / additiveA single particle at 0.2 s. Colour: blue.
  3. Glow x3particles / additiveA single particle at 0.72 s. Colour: gold.
  4. Hold glow x3particles / additiveA single particle at 0.82 s. Colour: orange.
  5. Light ray, Light ray, Light ray +17stroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a path. Its start and end are keyframed, so it writes itself on and off.
  6. Glow x4particles / additiveA single particle at 1.34 s. Colour: red.
  7. Hold glow x4particles / additiveA single particle at 1.44 s. Colour: pink.
  8. Embersparticles / additiveA stream of pixels on the letters of the text, its rate keyframed over the loop. They sway from side to side. Colour runs from white to deep pink over each life.
  9. x2textThe words "x2" in Press Start 2P.
  10. Core x2particles / additiveA single particle at 0.1 s. Colour: white.

18 more layers are in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
2.4 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
384 x 288, pixel art at 3x
Layers
18 emitters, 25 glowing strokes and 4 text layers
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
whiteredgoldorange
Sprites
Built-in shapes only
Tags
pixel art, pixel, vfx, combo, combo counter, hit counter, multiplier, score, ui, text, arcade, brawler

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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