Tumbleweed: A tumbleweed bounces and spins across the desert floor, puffing dust at each bounce and shedding twigs, while faint wind streaks pass.

Tumbleweed

A tumbleweed bounces and spins across the desert floor, puffing dust at each bounce and shedding twigs, while faint wind streaks pass. Loops perfectly.

Tumbleweed is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 3 seconds, drawn on a 384 by 384 canvas. It is built from 6 particle emitters.

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 loop.

Tumbleweed at 8 moments, from 0 s to 2.63 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Tumbleweed stacks 6 particle emitters, each with its own job. Techniques worth a look: sub-emitters set off by other particles, collisions and particles stretched along their motion. 2 scene layers (ground and props) show in the studio for context and stay out of every export.

Every layer emits continuously and the 3 s loop closes seamlessly, so it can run for as long as you need. It carries little colour of its own, so it takes a tint well: select "Tumbleweed" and set Colour A and Colour B. Size on the same layer sets how big its particles are.

Layers, in draw order

  1. TumbleweedparticlesA single long-lived particle that stays for the whole loop.
  2. Bounce DustparticlesSmoke puffs set off by "Tumbleweed". They grow as they age, spin and slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to pale orange over each life.
  3. GritparticlesDebris set off by "Tumbleweed". They fall under gravity, bounce when they hit something and spin. Colour: orange.
  4. Shed TwigsparticlesSquares set off by "Tumbleweed". They fall under gravity, bounce when they hit something and spin. Colour: orange.
  5. Ground Sand DriftparticlesA steady stream of streaks along a line. Colour: orange.
  6. Wind Streaksparticles / additiveA steady stream of streaks across a box. Colour: pale orange.

DETAILS

Length
3 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
384 x 384, HD
Layers
6 emitters
Blend
Mostly normal
Colours
orangepale orangewhite
Sprites
Kenney Smoke Particles by Kenney (CC0)
Tags
tumbleweed, desert, western, wind, ambient, dust, bounce, 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.

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

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