Pixel Art Plasma Orb: Pixel art plasma orb: a throbbing white core in a boiling violet sphere, lightning arcs crackling out to its rim and comet sparks circling on tilted orbits, as a seamless loop.

Pixel Art Plasma Orb

Pixel art plasma orb: a throbbing white core in a boiling violet sphere, lightning arcs crackling out to its rim and comet sparks circling on tilted orbits, as a seamless loop. Use it as a plasma projectile, a charged attack or a power core in pixel-art shooters and RPGs.

Pixel Art Plasma Orb is a pixel art effect that loops seamlessly every 2 seconds, drawn on a 288 by 288 canvas at 3x pixels. It is built from 12 particle emitters, 5 lightning bolts and 3 glowing strokes. Most layers blend additively, so it glows on dark backgrounds. Some particles draw ribbon trails.

Colour

Recolours the preview and the free downloads.

Free download with a transparent background, cropped to the effect, 60 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, 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 s loop.

Pixel Art Plasma Orb at 8 moments, from 0 s to 1.75 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Pixel Art Plasma Orb gets its crackle from 5 lightning bolts (a new jagged path on every strike), backed by 12 particle emitters. Techniques worth a look: glowing strokes traced along shapes, ribbon trails, paths, turbulence and post filters (bloom).

It loops seamlessly every 2 s, and one layer fires in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 0.35 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To change its colour, select "Plasma boil" 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. The colour swatches by the downloads recolour every layer at once.

Layers, in draw order

  1. Orb aura, Orb body, Core glowsprite / additiveA placed glow. Extras: keyframed motion.
  2. Orbit sparks o1 (back), Orbit sparks o3 (back), Orbit sparks o1 (front) +1particles / additiveA steady stream of ribbon trails. They travel along a path. Colour: white.
  3. Orbit sparks o2 (back), Orbit sparks o2 (front)particles / additiveA steady stream of ribbon trails. They travel along a path. Colour: magenta.
  4. Plasma boilparticles / additiveA steady stream of soft glows from a disc. They wander on turbulence. Colours range between magenta and violet.
  5. Arc 1, Arc 2, Arc 3 +1lightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking downward every 0.4 s. It forks into branches.
  6. Arc 5lightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking sideways every 0.4 s. It forks into branches.
  7. Orb coresprite / additiveA placed shape. Extras: keyframed motion.
  8. Orb rimstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle. It wobbles like unstable energy. It flickers like a failing neon tube.
  9. Rim highlightstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle.
  10. Outer fieldstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle. It is drawn as dashes.

5 more layers are in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
2 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
288 x 288, pixel art at 3x
Layers
12 emitters, 5 lightning bolts and 3 glowing strokes
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
whitemagentaviolet
Sprites
Built-in shapes only
Tags
pixel art, pixel, vfx, plasma orb, plasma, energy ball, orb, lightning, projectile, charge, loop, sci-fi, magic

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 VFX

Pixel Art Crystal Ball Vision particle effectPixel Art Crystal Ball VisionPixel Art Arcane Missiles particle effectPixel Art Arcane MissilesPixel Art Energy Bullet Impact particle effectPixel Art Energy Bullet ImpactPixel Art Force Field Dome particle effectPixel Art Force Field DomePixel Art Healing Spring particle effectPixel Art Healing SpringPixel Art Hologram Projection particle effectPixel Art Hologram ProjectionPixel Art Laser Grid Trap particle effectPixel Art Laser Grid TrapPixel Art Arrow Hit particle effectPixel Art Arrow Hit

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Charge Shot particle effectCharge ShotGlowing Energy Orb particle effectGlowing Energy OrbOvercharged Battery particle effectOvercharged BatteryPixel Art Aura particle effectPixel Art AuraPlasma Detonation particle effectPlasma DetonationPlasma Rifle particle effectPlasma Rifle

All Pixel Art VFX effects or the full library.