Pixel Art Homing Missile: Pixel art homing missile: a lock-on ring blinks, a missile launches and curves onto its target on a trail of lit smoke, then explodes in a fireball with tumbling debris, sparks and lingering smoke.

Pixel Art Homing Missile

Pixel art homing missile: a lock-on ring blinks, a missile launches and curves onto its target on a trail of lit smoke, then explodes in a fireball with tumbling debris, sparks and lingering smoke. Use it for rocket launchers, homing weapons and air strikes in pixel-art shooters and strategy games.

Pixel Art Homing Missile is a pixel art effect that loops seamlessly every 3.9 seconds, drawn on a 480 by 300 canvas at 3x pixels. It is built from 31 particle emitters and 7 glowing strokes. Most layers blend additively, so it glows on dark backgrounds. Some particles draw ribbon trails.

Free download with a transparent background, cropped to the effect, 117 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 3.9, 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 3.9 s loop.

Pixel Art Homing Missile at 8 moments, from 0 s to 3.41 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Pixel Art Homing Missile is pixel art, drawn at 3x pixels so it sits on the same grid as your sprites, and built from 31 particle emitters. Techniques worth a look: glowing strokes traced along shapes, ribbon trails, sub-emitters set off by other particles, paths and post filters (bloom and colour grade). 2 scene layers (ground and props) show in the studio for context and stay out of every export.

It loops seamlessly every 3.9 s, and 21 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 1.29 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To change its colour, select "Blast light" in the studio and edit Colour A and Colour B. Size on the same layer sets how big its particles are. Pixel size in the Pixel art panel sets how chunky it looks.

Layers, in draw order

  1. Lock-on ring far, Lock-on ring nearstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle. It is drawn as dashes.
  2. Blast lightparticles / additiveA single particle at 1.25 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: orange.
  3. Floor light, Crater glowparticles / additiveA single particle at 1.25 s. Colour: orange.
  4. CraterparticlesA single particle at 1.25 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: black.
  5. Crater rim far, Crater rim nearstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle. It wobbles like unstable energy. It flickers like a failing neon tube.
  6. Shock ring far, Shock ring near, Blast ringstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle.
  7. Launch flashparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.35 s. Colour: pale gold.
  8. Launch smokeparticlesOne burst of 10 smoke puffs from a disc at 0.37 s. They spawn "Launch smoke lit tops" as they appear, wander on turbulence, grow as they age and slow down with drag. Colour runs from pale violet to grey over each life.
  9. Launch smoke lit topsparticlesSmoke puffs set off by "Launch smoke". They wander on turbulence, grow as they age and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to grey over each life.
  10. Launch sparksparticles / additiveOne burst of 14 streaks at 0.35 s. They fall under gravity, bounce when they hit something and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to red over each life.

23 more layers are in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
3.9 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
480 x 300, pixel art at 3x
Layers
31 emitters and 7 glowing strokes
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
whiteorangepale goldred
Sprites
Kenney Smoke Particles by Kenney (CC0)
Tags
pixel art, pixel, vfx, homing missile, missile, rocket, explosion, smoke trail, projectile, impact, shooter

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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