Pixel Art Rocket Launcher: Pixel art rocket launcher: back-blast smoke kicks out of the tube, the rocket streaks across on a white thruster flame laying a thick smoke trail, then hits the wall in a big fireball with brick chips and sparks.

Pixel Art Rocket Launcher

Pixel art rocket launcher: back-blast smoke kicks out of the tube, the rocket streaks across on a white thruster flame laying a thick smoke trail, then hits the wall in a big fireball with brick chips and sparks. Use it for bazookas, rocket launchers and missile weapons in shooters and action games; it plays once, then loops.

Pixel Art Rocket Launcher 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 21 particle emitters and 1 glowing stroke. 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 Rocket Launcher at 8 moments, from 0 s to 1.93 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Pixel Art Rocket Launcher is pixel art, drawn at 3x pixels so it sits on the same grid as your sprites, and built from 21 particle emitters. Techniques worth a look: glowing strokes traced along shapes, sub-emitters set off by other particles, collisions, turbulence and post filters (bloom and colour grade). 4 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 17 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 0.66 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To change its colour, select "Fireball" in the studio and edit the Colour over Life gradient. 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. Floor lightparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.62 s. Colour: orange.
  2. Smoke trailparticlesSmoke puffs set off by "Thruster flame". They wander on turbulence and grow as they age. Colour runs from white to grey over each life.
  3. Back-blastparticlesOne burst of 12 smoke puffs from a disc at 0.2 s. They grow as they age and slow down with drag. Colours range between pale violet and light grey.
  4. Back-blast fireparticles / additiveOne burst of 8 soft glows at 0.2 s. Colour runs from white to orange over each life.
  5. Thruster flameparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.2 s. Colour: pale gold.
  6. Thruster core, Rocket, Flashparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.2 s. Colour: white.
  7. Flash glowparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.2 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: orange.
  8. SmokeparticlesSmoke puffs set off by "Fireball" and "Fire plume". They spawn "Smoke lit tops" as they appear, float upward, wander on turbulence and grow as they age. Colour: dark grey.
  9. Smoke lit topsparticlesSmoke puffs set off by "Smoke". They float upward, wander on turbulence, grow as they age and slow down with drag. Colour runs from grey to dark grey over each life.
  10. Fireballparticles / additiveOne burst of 31 soft glows from a disc at 0.64 s. They set off "Smoke" when they die, float upward, bounce when they hit something and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to deep red over each life.

10 more layers are in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
2.2 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
384 x 384, pixel art at 3x
Layers
21 emitters and 1 glowing stroke
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
whiteorangepale golddark grey
Sprites
Kenney Smoke Particles by Kenney (CC0)
Tags
pixel art, rocket, rocket launcher, bazooka, explosion, smoke trail, weapon

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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