8bit effect maker

■ What this is

A tool for making visual effects and sound effects for 8-bit games.

It comes with 84 effects, each one paired with its own sound, and you can

fine-tune things like colour, density and spread. The graphics are 8-bit:

drawn at a low resolution with only 8 colours, then scaled up. The sound

is 8-bit too, using nothing but square waves, triangle waves and noise.

You do not need to be able to draw. You do not need any knowledge of how

sound is made.

Pick an effect, and if it is not quite what you had in mind, nudge a slider. 

The graphics and the sound come as presets that are already matched to

each other.

■ How to use it (3 steps)

  1. Pick an effect   Press one of the 84 presets and it plays straight away

  2. Adjust           Size, density, spread and colour for the picture,

                      length, pitch, grit and volume for the sound (optional)

  3. Export           GIF, PNG strip, WAV, or all of them at once

You can try the browser version right here on this page.

If you plan to use it properly, take the downloadable version. It is the

same tool.

■ The 84 effects included

  MELEE (21)

    Slash / Double Slash / Flurry / Heavy Slash / Thrust / Charge / Throw /

    Arrow / Volley / Gunshot / Blow / Kick / Critical / Miss / Guard /

    Great Shield / Dodge / Afterimage / Counter / Damage / Defeat

  MAGIC (21)

    Fire / Inferno / Water / Torrent / Ice / Ice Barrier / Thunder /

    Lightning / Fissure / Upheaval / Wind / Cyclone / Light / Holy Light /

    Dark / Darkness / Curse / Heal / Great Heal / Revive / Magic Circle

  SCENE (14)

    Blast / Big Blast / Chain Blast / Shockblast / Fire Pillar / Falling Rock /

    Shockwave / Dust / Smoke / Steam / Rain / Snow / Petals / Warp

  STATUS (14)

    Level Up / Buff / Great Buff / Debuff / Great Debuff / Burn / Freeze /

    Paralyze / Poison / Sleep / Confuse / Stun / Charm / Seal

  UI / PICKUP (14)

    Coin / Item Get / Treasure / Experience / Potion / Key / Confirm /

    Cancel / Cursor / Equip / Save / Start / Warning / Error

The last eight in UI / PICKUP are sound only. There is no picture, because

a menu beep does not need one.

■ Export

  GIF animation ..... transparent background, loops forever

  PNG strip ......... every frame lined up in a single image

  WAV ............... the sound effect

  GIF + WAV ......... both at once

  All three ......... GIF, PNG and WAV

Output size is 64 / 96 / 128 / 192 px square, and you can make the pixels

themselves chunkier if you want a coarser look.

Change the speed and the sound stretches with it, so the picture and the

sound always finish together.

■ Rights to what you make

  - Free for commercial and non-commercial use

  - No credit required

  - Games, videos, streams, apps: any use is fine

Every effect and every sound is produced by calculation.

No existing artwork or audio was learned from, sampled, or used as

material.

So you never have to stop and wonder whether an asset is safe to ship.

That is the main reason this tool exists.

■ About AI

No AI is involved in generating the effects or the sounds.

The tool itself, however, was built with AI assistance. Saying so up front.

■ It does not talk to the internet

Everything runs inside your browser. Nothing is ever sent to a server.

What you make never leaves your machine, and nothing you do is logged.

The only thing it remembers is which language you picked.

The downloadable version works with no internet connection at all.

■ The same settings always give you the same effect

"I want that one I had a minute ago" is possible here.

There is no randomness. Given the same settings, you get the same picture

and the same sound every time.

■ What people use it for

  - Placeholder or final effects for an indie game

  - Hit sparks, magic and status icons for an RPG

  - Weather and scene changes for a video

  - Game jams, or anything else on a deadline

  - Those moments when making one effect yourself is faster than searching

    an asset library

■ English / 中文 / 日本語

Switch languages in the top-right corner.

■ What it cannot do (honestly)

  - 8-bit look only. No smooth gradients, no high-resolution art

  - Mono sound, not stereo

  - You cannot draw your own shapes. You combine and adjust the parts

    that are built in

  - One effect at a time. There is no timeline for stacking several

  - The sound cannot be edited note by note

  - It needs a screen about 1000 px wide. Not built for phones

This is not a do-everything effect editor.

It does a small number of things, so that you never have to stop and work

out what to do next.

■ Pricing

Everything works for free. There are no restrictions.

If you like it and feel like supporting the work, a contribution would

mean a great deal to me.