Small Cartoon Explosion: A small cartoon explosion for projectile hits, mines and defeated enemies: a spiky starburst, cel fire lobes, a bead ring, stars and a last puff of smoke in under a second.

Small Cartoon Explosion

A small cartoon explosion for projectile hits, mines and defeated enemies: a spiky starburst, cel fire lobes, a bead ring, stars and a last puff of smoke in under a second.

Small Cartoon Explosion is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 0.8 seconds, drawn on a 256 by 256 canvas. It is built from 15 particle emitters.

Colour

Recolours the preview and the free downloads.

Free download with a transparent background, cropped to the effect, 24 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 0.8, 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 0.8 s loop.

Small Cartoon Explosion at 8 moments, from 0 s to 0.7 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Small Cartoon Explosion stacks 14 particle emitters, each with its own job. Techniques worth a look: sub-emitters set off by other particles, particles stretched along their motion and post filters (outline).

It loops seamlessly every 0.8 s, and 8 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 0.12 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To change its colour, select "Spikes" in the studio and edit the Colour over Life gradient. Size on the same layer sets how big its particles are. The colour swatches by the downloads recolour every layer at once.

Layers, in draw order

  1. SpikesparticlesOne burst of 9 shards at the start. They swell and then shrink away. Colour runs from white to orange over each life.
  2. Bead RingparticlesOne burst of 22 dots from a ring at the start. They shrink as they age and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to orange over each life.
  3. Smoke PuffsparticlesOne burst of 4 dots from a disc at 0.12 s. They spawn "Smoke Puffs Body" as they appear, spawn "Smoke Puffs Light" as they appear, float upward and swell and then shrink away. Colour: white.
  4. Smoke Puffs Body, Smoke Puffs LightparticlesDots set off by "Smoke Puffs". They float upward, swell and then shrink away and slow down with drag. Colour: white.
  5. Fire LobesparticlesOne burst of 12 dots from a ring at the start. They spawn "Fire Lobes Body" as they appear, spawn "Fire Lobes Light" as they appear, float upward and swell and then shrink away. Colour runs from gold to violet over each life.
  6. Fire Lobes Body, Fire Lobes LightparticlesDots set off by "Fire Lobes". They float upward, swell and then shrink away and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to violet over each life.
  7. Fire CoreparticlesOne burst of 3 dots from a disc at the start. They spawn "Fire Core Body" as they appear, spawn "Fire Core Light" as they appear, float upward and swell and then shrink away. Colour runs from gold to violet over each life.
  8. Fire Core Body, Fire Core LightparticlesDots set off by "Fire Core". They float upward, swell and then shrink away and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to violet over each life.
  9. Flash DiscparticlesA single particle at the start. It swells and then shrinks away. Colour: white.
  10. StarsparticlesOne burst of 4 stars from a ring at 0.03 s. They fall under gravity, swell and then shrink away, spin and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to gold over each life.

One more layer is in the studio.

DETAILS

Length
0.8 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
256 x 256, HD
Layers
15 emitters
Blend
Mostly normal
Colours
whitegoldorangeviolet
Sprites
Built-in shapes only
Tags
small explosion, cartoon explosion, pop, hit, cartoon, toon, blast, projectile

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.

Step by step: Unity, Godot 4, Roblox, GameMaker, Phaser and PixiJS, Aseprite, Web games (live runtime).

More free cartoon and anime effects, and how to make your own: 2D cartoon FX.

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