Actor Effects Plus! GB Studio Plugin

Actor Effects Plus! is a GB Studio event plugin that extends the engine's default Actor Effects with five new actor-focused visual effects for combat feedback, damage reactions, and dramatic character moments.

Flicker+: the built-in flicker only lets you set a duration — this adds a rate, so you control exactly how long the actor is visible versus invisible on each flicker, on top of the overall effect duration.

Shake: shakes the actor's sprite side to side and/or up and down by a set pixel amount, at a set speed, for a set duration. The collider stays put so it won't interfere with collisions, and shake distance is capped (around 8px) to keep it readable on the GB screen.

Split In/Out Vertical: a vertical companion to the engine's existing horizontal split effect. Instead of the actor splitting left/right, it splits up/down, flickering between the upper and lower half each frame to keep it to one sprite on screen at a time.

Flash Sprite: recolors the actor to the palette's lightest color and flashes it a specified number of times, with control over number of flashes, interval between flashes, and hold time for the solid-color state. Great for damage reactions or power-up moments.

Drop Dead: disables the actor's collisions, bounces it upward by a set pixel amount, then drops it off screen — a ready-made "defeated" animation before moving on to your next event.

Split Out and In: builds on the horizontal split effect by looping it — the actor splits apart by X pixels at a set flicker rate, comes back together, then repeats for as many cycles as you specify. Works in either horizontal or vertical orientation.

Set the timing, pixel amounts, and repeat counts to match your scene, whether it's a hit reaction, a defeat animation, or just extra visual polish.

Tested in GB Studio 4.3.2

Install Instructions: Open your project folder and place the Actor Effects Plus folder into your plugins folder.

FAQ:

Character disappears after effect?

Make sure to Show Actor as the next event, some effects such as Drop Dead and Split Out do not restore the actor afterwards automatically.