Pixel Art Soul Release: A pixel art soul release: light gathers at the fallen point, then a pale spirit wisp breaks free and rises on a swaying trail of light, shedding motes before it thins away at the top.

Pixel Art Soul Release

A pixel art soul release: light gathers at the fallen point, then a pale spirit wisp breaks free and rises on a swaying trail of light, shedding motes before it thins away at the top. Use it for enemy and hero deaths, spirit captures, resurrection setups and soul-collecting mechanics in RPGs and roguelikes.

Pixel Art Soul Release is a pixel art effect that plays once over 3 seconds, drawn on a 336 by 384 canvas at 3x pixels. It is built from 10 particle emitters and 7 glowing strokes. Most layers blend additively, so it glows on dark backgrounds.

Free download with a transparent background, cropped to the effect, 90 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, 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 s clip.

Pixel Art Soul Release at 8 moments, from 0.19 s to 2.81 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Pixel Art Soul Release is drawn with 7 glowing strokes, lines with a hot core and a soft glow traced along their shapes, plus 10 particle emitters. Techniques worth a look: magnets, collisions, particles stretched along their motion, keyframed parameters and post filters (bloom). 2 scene layers (ground and props) show in the studio for context and stay out of every export.

It plays once over 3 s: "Gather ring" goes off first, and "Fade motes" joins at 2.3 s. To recolour the line, select "Gather ring" 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 mark lightsprite / additiveA placed glow.
  2. Gather ring, Release ring, Fade ringstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle.
  3. Floor gatherparticles / additiveA stream of streaks from a ring, its rate keyframed over the loop. They are swallowed by a magnet at its centre. Colour runs from blue to white over each life.
  4. Rising vapourparticles / additiveA stream of soft glows from a disc, its rate keyframed over the loop. They sway from side to side and grow as they age. Colours range between pale blue and blue.
  5. Release streaksparticles / additiveOne burst of 26 streaks along a line at 0.62 s. They slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to pale blue over each life.
  6. Release motesparticles / additiveOne burst of 18 pixels from a disc at 0.62 s. They fall under gravity, bounce when they hit something and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to pale blue over each life.
  7. Soul trail glow, Soul trail twin, Soul trail twin 2stroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a path. Its start and end are keyframed, so it writes itself on and off. It wobbles like unstable energy.
  8. Soul trailstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a path. Its start and end are keyframed, so it writes itself on and off.
  9. Rising spirit dustparticles / additiveA stream of pixels from a disc, its rate keyframed over the loop. They sway from side to side. Colour runs from white to blue over each life.
  10. Wisp tailparticles / additiveA stream of soft glows, its rate keyframed over the loop. They sway from side to side and shrink as they age. Colour runs from white to blue over each life.

8 more layers are in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
3 seconds, plays once
Canvas
336 x 384, pixel art at 3x
Layers
10 emitters and 7 glowing strokes
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
pale bluewhiteblue
Sprites
Built-in shapes only
Tags
pixel art, pixel, vfx, soul, spirit, wisp, ghost, death, afterlife, release, trail, one-shot

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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