VFX: fire, smoke, explosions and magic

1. One layer at a time. An explosion is flash, blast, fire, smoke, debris: draw and animate each as its own pass (own layer), then judge the stack. One drawing per frame comes out muddy.
2. Light sources get no black outline. The outer ring of a flame or blast is the darkest fire colour, then orange, yellow, white. An outline turns glow into a sticker. Contrast comes from a dark disc behind the effect on frame 1 (rule 9).
3. Fire ramp, hottest at the base: #ac3232 dark red, #df7126 orange, #fbf236 yellow, #ffffff white (add #3f2832 as a darkest step). White is 1–3 pixels at the root of a flame or centre of a blast, never a fill. The tip is the coolest part.
4. A flame is one connected body plus a few detached bits. The body changes outline every frame but keeps its area; embers (1 px) break off the tip and rise. Yellow stays inside orange. Measured torch at 32 px: 9–12 wide, 15–20 tall, tip height ±3–4 px between frames.
5. Fire loops in 6–8 frames at 80–120 ms with uneven durations (e.g. 100/80/120/100). Start a new "wave" every 2–3 frames; the last frame must lead into the first. At ≤16 px 4 frames suffice. Conflict: the Saint11 reference fire is 30 frames at 100 ms; at ≤32 px the extra frames are indistinguishable, so use 6–8. Equal frames and durations strobe.
6. Wind leans the tip, not the base: shift the top 2–3 rows by 1 px, keep the bottom.
7. Smoke dies by shrinking, not transparency. Each frame rise 2–3 px, widen, lighten toward the background (3 → 2 colours), and finally break into 2–4 clusters. Break late; early breakup reads as noise. Violet-grey, never neutral (rules://20-color-for-pixel-art).
8. Smoke puffs are lobed discs: light crescent upper-left, one dark crescent lower-right, bumps on top. No pillow shading (rules://11-clusters-and-noise).
9. Explosion: at least 4 frames, in order: (1) contrast — a dark disc, so the next frame feels brighter; (2) white flash; (3) sharp blast, hard angles, no noise; (4+) fade — fire leaves fast, smoke slowly. Draw the force shape first: sphere in open air, half-dome on a wall, quarter-dome in a corner.
10. Expansion is fast, then slows; in a 6-frame, 32 px blast the radius gains about +4, +3, +2, +1, +1 px (derived). Colour runs white → yellow → orange → brown/grey, so the last frames carry no yellow.
11. Debris follows gravity and lands. Nothing hangs mid-air; fragments rest on the last frame.
12. Electricity flickers: shock (sharp zig-zag) → brighter frame with a different shape → empty → faded echo of the first → empty → 2-frame fade. Blank frames are part of it.
13. Beams: white core, 1 px coloured fringe; pulse thickness 1 → 3 → 5 → 3 → 1 px, with a charge ball at the muzzle first.
14. Glow is concentric rings, not alpha: core → light → mid → dark, 1–2 px per ring, outer ring dithered (rules://13-dithering-and-texture). Light it casts drops about 2 ramp steps per doubling of distance (rules://24-lighting-scenarios).
15. Pick the magic palette by the feeling. Dark magic: complementary pair (lime #99e550 against purple #c327ff), lit from below, sharp shapes, spiral smoke, black disc behind. Holy magic: analogous and bright (cyan, white, yellow), lit from above, rounded shapes, sparks that fall slowly or rise, no smoke, no spikes.
16. Projectile cores are warm and bright, borders cool and dark: orange #fee761 #feae34 #f77622 #9e2835; cyan #ffffff #2ce8f5 #0095e9 #124e89; green #fee761 #63c74d #3e8948 #265c42. Fast bullets: fewer details, stretched along travel.

Budget at 16 px: ≤ 70 filled pixels and ≤ 2 detached per flame frame; ≤ 3 clusters per smoke frame.

All frames share one canvas size per effect so they stack in one sprite; colours are roles — map them to your palette (rules://21-limited-and-platform-palettes).

Torch flame, 3 frames (9×12). Upright, lean-right, short with a detached spark. For a lean-left frame mirror vfx-flame-2 (transform op flip) and shift the yellow core sliver by 1 px. Play with uneven durations.

R = fire-dark   #ac3232
O = fire-mid    #df7126
Y = fire-light  #fbf236
W = fire-core   #ffffff
---
.........
....R....
...RRR...
...ROR...
..RROOR..
..ROOOOR.
.RROYOOR.
.ROOYYOR.
.ROYYWYR.
.ROYYYYR.
..ROYYR..
...RRR...

R = fire-dark   #ac3232
O = fire-mid    #df7126
Y = fire-light  #fbf236
W = fire-core   #ffffff
---
.........
.....R...
.....RR..
....RRR..
....ROR..
...RROOR.
..RROOOR.
.RROYOOR.
.ROOYYOR.
.ROYYWYR.
..ROYYYR.
...RRRR..

R = fire-dark   #ac3232
O = fire-mid    #df7126
Y = fire-light  #fbf236
W = fire-core   #ffffff
---
.....Y...
.........
....R....
...RRR...
..RROOR..
.ROOOOR..
.RROYOOR.
.ROOYYOR.
.ROYYWYR.
.ROYWYYR.
..ROYYR..
...RRR...

Smoke puff, 4-frame cycle (12×16), frames 1–3 drawn. One puff rising from the bottom edge: forms, swells, turns ragged and light. Frame 4 is 3–4 clusters of 2–3 px (M/L only) over the top 6 rows; only the last frame may hold lone pixels. Same origin for all.

D = smoke-dark  #5a5266
M = smoke-mid   #8a8496
L = smoke-light #bdb9c8
---
............
............
............
............
............
............
............
............
............
............
...LLL......
..LLLMM.....
.LLLMMMM....
.LLMMMMD....
.LMMMMDD....
..MMMDD.....
...DDD......
............

D = smoke-dark  #5a5266
M = smoke-mid   #8a8496
L = smoke-light #bdb9c8
---
............
............
............
...LL.......
..LLLL.LL...
.LLLLLLLLM..
LLLLMMMMMMM.
LLLMMMMMMMD.
LLMMMMMMMDD.
.LMMMMMMDDD.
.MMMMMMDDD..
..MMDDDDD...
...DDDD.....
............
............
............

M = smoke-mid   #8a8496
L = smoke-light #bdb9c8
---
..LL..LL....
.LLLLLLLL...
LLLL.LLLML..
LLLLLLLMML..
.LLMM.MMMM..
.LMMMMMM.M..
..MM.MMM....
...M........
............
............
............
............
............
............
............
............

Explosion, 4 frames (13×13). Frame 0 (not drawn here) is a dark disc of about 7 px, #222034, via draw op ellipse. Then flash, sharp blast, fireball, fade. Hold flash and blast for 1 tick each (40–60 ms), fireball 80 ms, fade 100–120 ms (derived).

W = flash-white  #ffffff
Y = fire-light   #fbf236
---
......W......
......W......
.....YYY.....
...YYWWWYY...
...YWWWWWY...
..YWWWWWWWY..
WWYWWWWWWWYWW
..YWWWWWWWY..
...YWWWWWY...
...YYWWWYY...
.....YYY.....
......W......
......W......

W = fire-core   #ffffff
Y = fire-light  #fbf236
O = fire-mid    #df7126
---
......O......
......Y......
......Y......
..O...Y...O..
...Y.YYY.Y...
....YYWYY....
OYYYYWWWYYYYO
....YYWYY....
...Y.YYY.Y...
..O...Y...O..
......Y......
......Y......
......O......

W = fire-core   #ffffff
Y = fire-light  #fbf236
O = fire-mid    #df7126
R = fire-dark   #ac3232
K = smoke-dark  #3b3550
---
.............
....RRRR.....
..RROOOORR...
.ROOOYYOOORR.
.ROOYYYYOOOR.
RROOYYWYYOOOR
ROOYYWWYYYOOR
ROOYYYYYYYOOR
RROOYYYYYOORR
.RROOOYYOOOR.
..RRROOOORR..
.KK.RRRRRR.K.
K..KK...K..KK

M = smoke-mid   #6b6578
D = smoke-dark  #3b3550
E = ember       #df7126
R = fire-dark   #ac3232
---
.............
....MMM......
..MMMMMMM....
.MMMMMMMMMM..
.MMDMMMMDMM..
..MMDDDDDM...
...MDDEDDM...
....DDDD.....
.R.......E...
.......R.....
.............
.............
.............

Magic orb (11×11). Ring glow: one frame, or pulse by swapping the ring colours one step outward each frame. Dither the outer N ring for a soft edge.

W = glow-core   #ffffff
C = glow-light  #2ce8f5
B = glow-mid    #0095e9
N = glow-dark   #124e89
---
...NNNNN...
..NBBBBBN..
.NBBCCCBBN.
NBBCCCCCBBN
NBCCCWCCCBN
NBCCWWWCCBN
NBCCCWCCCBN
NBBCCCCCBBN
.NBBCCCBBN.
..NBBBBBN..
...NNNNN...

Lightning bolt, 2 frames (9×12). Frame 1 thin and sharp (2 px segments on 1:1 diagonals joined by horizontal kinks); frame 2 a white core in a halo, mirrored so the shape changes. Order: 1, 2, empty, 1 at half the colour, empty, gone.

C = bolt-main  #5fcde4
---
.....CC..
....CC...
...CC....
..CCCCCC.
.....CC..
....CC...
...CC....
..CCCCC..
....CC...
...CC....
..CC.....
.CC......

W = bolt-core  #ffffff
C = bolt-halo  #5fcde4
---
..CWC....
...CWC...
..CCCWC..
.CWWWWWC.
..CWCCC..
...CWC...
....CWC..
.....CWC.
....CWWWC
....CWCC.
.....CWC.
......CWC

1. Fix the feeling and the ramp: palette op set with the 4–5 role colours, or palette op ramp from #df7126 if the project palette lacks a fire ramp.
2. Make a transparent fx layer (layer op create); frame op add to the frame count.
3. Draw each frame with draw op grid from a template, same origin on every frame.
4. look op filmstrip, then look op onion on middle frames: the body keeps its volume and the tip travels, not teleports.
5. frame op set_duration with uneven values; tag op create the loop (fire-loop) or one-shot (explosion).
6. validate flags single-pixel sparks as orphans: expected on embers and last-frame debris; anything else is a defect.

• No black outline on light sources; darkest ring is a fire/magic colour.
• Yellow is enclosed by orange; white covers ≤ 5 % of a flame frame.
• Filmstrip: body area steady (±15 %), tip wobbles, loop closes.
• Explosion has contrast, flash, blast, fade in order (≥ 4 frames).
• Smoke lightens and breaks into clusters; no flat grey disc.
• Palette matches the feeling (dark vs holy).

• Saint11 (Pedro Medeiros) tutorials: Fire, SmokeSheet, Explosion, Electric, DarkMagic, LightMagic, Bullets, RocketTrail.
• Dawe, Make Your Own Pixel Art, pp. 146–155 (flame, laser, glow, explosion).
• Slynyrd Pixelblog 31 (aerial explosion, projectile rules); Ferrari's palette-cycling talk (unequal ramp lengths).
• Colours measured from tutorial GIFs (fire ramp, bolt cyan); values marked "derived" are ours.