Pixel FX Designer Alternative: Particle Effects in a Browser

If you want a Pixel FX Designer alternative that runs in a browser, Gridwright's Particle FX Baker makes pixel art fire, smoke, magic, weather and explosions with live sliders and bakes them into looping sprite sheets with a JSON map, GIFs or Godot 4 SpriteFrames. Pixel FX Designer is $14.96 on itch.io for one desktop app; Gridwright puts the Particle FX Baker, 30 more tools and 129 asset packs, 8 of them ready-made effects, into one $17 monthly subscription.

Below is a side-by-side look, why Gridwright is the better pick for a pixel art game, and what a year of each route costs. Pixel FX Designer's price, platforms and exports come from CodeManu's itch.io page, read on 14 November 2026.

Pixel FX Designer alternative: the two side by side

	Pixel FX Designer	Gridwright
Price	$14.96 once on itch.io	$1 for 3 days, then $17 a month
Runs on	Desktop app; the itch.io build runs on Windows and macOS	Your browser on Windows, macOS, Linux or a Chromebook, nothing to install
Tools in the price	1	31, plus 129 asset packs
Export	PNG sprite sheets and GIFs	PNG sheet with JSON, every frame in a ZIP, GIF, Godot 4 SpriteFrames and a scene
Try first	A Windows demo	3 days for $1 with every tool and up to 10 packs

What Pixel FX Designer is

Pixel FX Designer is a particle effect tool from CodeManu, made with Davit Masiá. It is a desktop app, and its itch.io build runs on Windows and macOS. You make an effect with sliders and buttons, then export it as a PNG sprite sheet or a GIF. On itch.io it costs $14.96, and a Windows demo is there to test first.

What Gridwright's Particle FX Baker does

The Particle FX Baker turns a particle system into frames a pixel art game can use. Start from one of 62 presets in 11 groups (fire, smoke, magic, sparkles, explosions, weather, dust, blood and hits, heals and buffs, coins and loot, nature and more), watch it move, and change it with sliders.

Emitters that stack

Each effect is a stack of emitters drawn in the order you set, first at the back. Emitters can be a point, a line, a circle, a ring, a cone or a box, squashed for top-down games, or moving along a circle, a figure eight or a line. Each one has streams or bursts, start delays, lifetime, speed, direction, spread, gravity, wind, drag, taper, wiggle and swirl, and size, opacity and colour at the start, middle and end of a particle's life. Particles can be any of 11 pixel shapes, 8 stamps (coin, gem, heart, leaf, petal, snowflake, bubble, drop) or your own PNG stamp up to 64x64, with spin, a 3D flip and a tint.

Built for pixel art

The heat colour mode adds particles up into heat and cuts it into hard colour bands from a dark edge to a bright core, which is how pixel art fire and explosions are usually drawn. You choose hard alpha, with no half-transparent pixels, or a dithered fade, plus Bayer dither and an outline. The palette lock keeps an effect in the effect's own colours, the palettes of our VFX packs, or your own .hex, .gpl, .pal, .txt or .png palette. Frames can be any size from 8 to 256 pixels, at any frame rate, scaled 1x to 8x on export.

Loops that don't jump

The spawn schedule repeats every loop, so the last frame flows into the first like any other step, and a loop check shows the last frame under the first so you can see it. In endless mode particles live for the whole loop and wrap at the edges, so rain, snow, mist, dust, fireflies and bubbles loop and also tile across the screen. One-shot effects such as explosions end on the frame where the last particle dies.

Exports

You get a PNG sprite sheet (one row, an automatic grid or N columns, with spacing) and a JSON of the frame size, fps and every frame's rectangle; every frame as a PNG in a ZIP; an animated GIF; and for Godot 4 a SpriteFrames file plus an AnimatedSprite2D scene set to nearest filtering, tested in Godot 4.7. Effects save as files, or as a one-line share code you can send a teammate. Everything renders on your computer, and nothing you make is uploaded.

How to bake a pixel art effect for Godot 4

1. Pick the preset closest to what you need, such as a campfire, a magic burst or rain.
2. Change the emitters, shapes and colours with the sliders, watching the loop as it plays.
3. Set the frame size, the frame rate and the length, and lock the palette to your game's colours.
4. Bake it and save the PNG sheet with its JSON, or the Godot 4 SpriteFrames and scene.
5. In Godot, open the scene or put the SpriteFrames on an AnimatedSprite2D. It plays with nearest filtering, so the pixels stay crisp.

Why Gridwright is the better pick

• Drop-in Godot 4 effects. A SpriteFrames file and an AnimatedSprite2D scene with nearest filtering come out of every bake, tested in Godot 4.7, next to the PNG sheet and its JSON for any other engine.
• Pixel art fire done the pixel art way. The heat colour mode cuts particles into hard bands from a dark edge to a bright core, with hard alpha or a dithered fade.
• Weather that loops and tiles. Endless particles wrap at the edges, so one sheet of rain or snow covers the whole screen.
• 62 presets and 8 effect packs. Start from a preset, or skip the bake: Explosions, Spell VFX, Combat VFX, Weather FX, Horror VFX and 2D Lights & Glow are in the library, ready to use.
• Runs anywhere. It runs in a current browser on Windows, macOS, Linux or a Chromebook, with nothing to install.
• One price for 31 tools. Next to it are Normal Maps for 2D lighting, the CRT Filter, map tools such as the Isometric Builder, Autotile Builder and Dungeon & Map Generator, character tools such as the Hero Creator and 3D Sprite Rotator, and sound with the Sound Effect Generator and Chiptune Composer.
• Every new release included. 136 packs and tools since 2 October 2026, about three a day, each one yours the day it comes out.

For the full list of paid apps Gridwright replaces, see our guide to game dev tools on one subscription.

What a year costs

Pixel FX Designer is $14.96 for one job. The paid apps for the jobs Gridwright's tools do, plus a year of art, at each maker's list price:

What you buy	Price
Pixel FX Designer, particle effects (itch.io)	$14.96 once
TexturePacker, sprite sheets	$49.99 once
SpriteIlluminator, normal maps	$49.99 once
Crocotile 3D, 3D from tiles	$29.99 once
Tilesetter, autotiles	$12.99 once
Aseprite, pixel art editor	$19.99 once
PixaTool, image to pixel art (list price)	$49.84 once
CraftPix monthly membership, art, 12 months	$180.00
Bought separately, year one	$407.75
Gridwright, year one	$1 for 3 days, then $204 for 12 months: $205

After two years the separate route comes to $587.75, even with no new update periods bought, against $409 for Gridwright. Bought one by one on our own store, every Gridwright pack and tool would cost $1,403.61.

FAQ

Is there a Pixel FX Designer alternative for Mac or Linux?

Yes. The Particle FX Baker runs in a current browser on Windows, macOS, Linux or a Chromebook. We tested it in Microsoft Edge, and Chrome uses the same engine; Firefox and Safari should work but weren't part of our tests.

Can the Particle FX Baker export to Godot 4?

Yes. It writes a SpriteFrames file and an AnimatedSprite2D scene that plays with nearest filtering, and both were tested in Godot 4.7. Other engines can read the PNG sheet and its JSON.

Do the loops really have no jump?

The spawn schedule repeats every loop, so the step from the last frame to the first is like any other step. The loop check view shows the last frame under the first so you can see it for yourself.

Can I keep an effect in my game's palette?

Yes. Lock it to the effect's own colours, one of our VFX pack palettes, or your own .hex, .gpl, .pal, .txt or .png palette.

Can I sell games that use effects I made with it?

Yes. The Gridwright licence covers what you make with the tools in personal and commercial projects. You may not resell or share the raw assets from the packs.