Plasma Core Overload: Plasma core overload: a churning plasma orb charges inside orbiting neon rings while motes spiral in like galaxy arms, then overloads with an impact flip, a white flash, a shock ring and spark streaks, and re-ignites for the loop.

Plasma Core Overload

Plasma core overload: a churning plasma orb charges inside orbiting neon rings while motes spiral in like galaxy arms, then overloads with an impact flip, a white flash, a shock ring and spark streaks, and re-ignites for the loop.

Plasma Core Overload is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 4 seconds, drawn on a 1024 by 1024 canvas. It is built from 8 particle emitters, 4 lightning bolts and 5 glowing strokes. Most layers blend additively, so it glows on dark backgrounds.

Free download with a transparent background, cropped to the effect, 120 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 4, 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 4 s loop.

Plasma Core Overload at 8 moments, from 0 s to 3.5 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Plasma Core Overload is drawn with 5 glowing strokes, lines with a hot core and a soft glow traced along their shapes, plus 8 particle emitters. Techniques worth a look: procedural lightning, a vortex, magnets, sub-emitters set off by other particles and post filters (bloom, chromatic aberration, impact frames and vignette).

It loops seamlessly every 4 s, and 5 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 2.67 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To recolour the line, select "Charge Gauge" and change Core and Glow; Start and End set how much of it is drawn.

Layers, in draw order

  1. Star Fieldparticles / additiveA steady stream of image sprites across a box. Colours range between pale blue and white.
  2. Aura, Rim, Burst Glare +1sprite / additiveA placed image. Extras: keyframed motion.
  3. Charge Gaugestroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle. Its start and end are keyframed, so it writes itself on and off. It is drawn as dashes.
  4. Gauge Hairline, Neon Shock Ringstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle.
  5. Inflow Motesparticles / additiveA stream of image sprites from a ring, its rate keyframed over the loop. They leave "Mote Trail" behind them, spiral into a vortex, are pushed away from a point and grow as they age. Colours range between white and blue.
  6. Mote Trailparticles / additiveImage sprites set off by "Inflow Motes". They shrink as they age. Colours range between blue and pale cyan.
  7. Orbit Ringstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle. It is drawn as dashes.
  8. Orbit Cometstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a circle. A lit stretch of it travels round the shape.
  9. Plasma CorespriteA placed image. Extras: keyframed motion.
  10. Arc 1, Arc 3, Arc 4lightning / additiveA lightning bolt striking sideways every 0.25 s. It forks into branches. Each strike lands somewhere new.

6 more layers are in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
4 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
1024 x 1024, HD
Layers
8 emitters, 4 lightning bolts and 5 glowing strokes
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
whitebluepale cyanpale blue
Sprites
Built-in shapes only
Tags
plasma, energy orb, core, overload, explosion, shockwave, sci-fi, impact frame, blue

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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