Surprised Jolt: Surprised emote for a 2D character sprite: it jolts up stretched with a yellow outline, hangs frozen in shock at the top while it trembles, an exclamation mark pops overhead with shock lines and sweat drops, then it settles back to its idle float.

Surprised Jolt

Surprised emote for a 2D character sprite: it jolts up stretched with a yellow outline, hangs frozen in shock at the top while it trembles, an exclamation mark pops overhead with shock lines and sweat drops, then it settles back to its idle float. Swap in your own sprite. Sprite made with SpriteLab.

Surprised Jolt is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 1.8 seconds, drawn on a 320 by 320 canvas. It is built from 6 particle emitters. 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, 54 frames at 30 fps. Use it in commercial games, no credit needed.

Roblox: the download is a flipbook for a ParticleEmitter. Set FlipbookLayout to Grid8x8, FlipbookMode to OneShot and Lifetime to 1.8, 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 STUDIOUSE MY SPRITE

Drop in your own character with Use my sprite: it takes the hero's place at the same height and the whole effect follows it. Change the colours, timing or size, or export for Unity, Godot 4, GameMaker, Phaser, PixiJS and Aseprite.

FRAME BY FRAME

8 evenly spaced moments across the 1.8 s loop.

Surprised Jolt at 8 moments, from 0 s to 1.58 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Surprised Jolt plays on a character sprite, with 6 particle emitters around it. The hero itself gets bounce, squash and stretch, hit-stop, shake, outline, colour adjust, glow and keyframed motion. Techniques worth a look: sprite modules, particles stretched along their motion, keyframed parameters and post filters (bloom).

It loops seamlessly every 1.8 s, and 4 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 0.45 s, so the layers arrive one after another. It carries little colour of its own, so it takes a tint well: select "Floor Shadow" and set Colour A and Colour B. Size on the same layer sets how big its particles are. To see it on your own character, press Use my sprite in the studio: every layer follows the new sprite. The colour swatches by the downloads recolour every layer at once.

Layers, in draw order

  1. Floor ShadowparticlesA steady stream of soft glows. Colour: black.
  2. HerospriteThe character sprite. Extras: bounce, squash and stretch, hit-stop, shake, outline, colour adjust, glow and keyframed motion.
  3. Exclamation Bar, Exclamation Dotparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.43 s. It swells and then shrinks away. Colour: gold.
  4. Shock Linesparticles / additiveOne burst of 9 streaks from a ring at 0.41 s. They slow down with drag. Colours range between white and pale gold.
  5. Sweat Dropsparticles / additiveOne burst of 3 droplets at 0.45 s. They fall under gravity and turn to face where they move. Colours range between pale blue and blue.
  6. Ghost Wispsparticles / additiveA steady stream of soft glows across a box. They grow as they age. Colour: pale blue.

DETAILS

Length
1.8 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
320 x 320, HD
Layers
6 emitters
Blend
Mostly additive (glows)
Colours
goldpale bluewhitepale gold
Sprites
Cast (Free to use)
Tags
surprised, shocked, startled, emote, exclamation, jump, reaction, cartoon, ghost, sprite, character

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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