Pixel Art Time Stop: A pixel art time stop: a gold clock face of runes spins open, a pulse sweeps out and freezes every floating mote mid-air while the world drains to grey, then the hands spin back and time snaps on again.

Pixel Art Time Stop

A pixel art time stop: a gold clock face of runes spins open, a pulse sweeps out and freezes every floating mote mid-air while the world drains to grey, then the hands spin back and time snaps on again. Use it for chronomancer ultimates, freeze-frame powers and slow-motion pickups.

Pixel Art Time Stop is a pixel art effect that loops seamlessly every 3.2 seconds, drawn on a 384 by 384 canvas at 3x pixels. It is built from 19 particle emitters, 2 laser beams and 5 glowing strokes. 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, 96 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 3.2, 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 3.2 s loop.

Pixel Art Time Stop at 8 moments, from 0 s to 2.8 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Pixel Art Time Stop centres on 2 laser beams drawn as glowing strips, with 19 particle emitters around them. Techniques worth a look: glowing strokes traced along shapes, magnets, flipbook sprites, turbulence and post filters (colour grade and bloom). 2 scene layers (ground and props) show in the studio for context and stay out of every export.

It loops seamlessly every 3.2 s, and 16 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 2.4 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To change its colour, select "Freeze flash" 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. Floor lightsprite / additiveA placed glow.
  2. Drifting motesparticles / additiveA stream of streaks across a box, its rate keyframed over the loop. They are pushed away from a point, wander on turbulence and slow down with drag. Colours range between pale gold and gold.
  3. Drifting specksparticles / additiveA stream of streaks across a box, its rate keyframed over the loop. They are pushed away from a point, wander on turbulence and slow down with drag. Colours range between pale gold and white.
  4. Clock glowsprite / additiveA placed glow. Extras: keyframed motion.
  5. Clock ring, Freeze pulse, Snap-back ringstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle.
  6. Minute ticks, Inner ringstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle. It is drawn as dashes.
  7. Hour rune 1, Hour rune 2, Hour rune 3 +9particles / additiveA single particle at 0.14 s. Colour runs from white to pale gold over each life.
  8. Minute handlaser / additiveA laser beam firing sideways.
  9. Hour handlaser / additiveA laser beam firing downward.
  10. Clock pivotsprite / additiveA placed shape. Extras: keyframed motion.

5 more layers are in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
3.2 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
384 x 384, pixel art at 3x
Layers
19 emitters, 2 lasers and 5 glowing strokes
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
whitepale goldgoldorange
Sprites
Built-in shapes only
Tags
pixel art, pixel, vfx, time stop, time freeze, chronomancy, clock, slow motion, ultimate, arcane, loop

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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