✦ Animated Icons System ✦
Bring your RPG Maker MZ icons to life!
Animated Icons System allows you to replace the usual static appearance of selected icons with custom animations, adding movement and personality to elements that would normally remain completely still.
Make a magical gem shine, a flame flicker, a status effect pulse, a weapon glow, or give your skills their own unique visual effects!
You don’t need to replace or modify your original IconSet.png.
The plugin uses its own independent animated icon sheet, keeping everything organized and easy to integrate into an existing project.
Features:
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Add custom animated icons to your games.
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Supports items, weapons, armors, skills and states!
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Configure each icon individually with simple notetags.
- Set custom animation speed.
- Set an idle pause between animations.
- Add an optional pause on Frame 3.
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Animated and regular icons work together normally.
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IconSet.png is never modified or replaced.
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Animations use their own independent image source.
- AnimatedIconSet.png works alongside IconSet.png.
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Compatible with VisuMZ Core Engine.
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For commercial and non-commercial use!
✦ Why animated icons? ✦
Icons are everywhere in an RPG. They represent the items the player collects, the weapons and armor they equip, the abilities they use and even the conditions affecting them during battle.
But normally, all of those little graphics remain completely static.
Animated Icons System turns that tiny piece of the interface into another opportunity to add life to your game.
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- A healing item can softly glow.
- A poisoned status can bubble or pulse.
- A frozen state can shimmer.
- A powerful weapon can radiate energy.
- A magical skill can sparkle while the player selects it.
It’s a small visual detail, but one that can make menus and battles feel much more polished and alive. ✦
How it works:
Animated Icons System uses an additional image located inside your project’s: img/system folder.
By default, this image is called: AnimatedIconSet.png
Instead of replacing RPG Maker’s original IconSet, this new image works as an independent atlas exclusively for animated icons.
Each horizontal row represents one animated icon and each column represents one frame of its animation.
[Frame 1] [Frame 2] [Frame 3] ← Animated Icon 1
[Frame 1] [Frame 2] [Frame 3] ← Animated Icon 2
[Frame 1] [Frame 2] [Frame 3] ← Animated Icon 3
[Frame 1] [Frame 2] [Frame 3] ← Animated Icon 4
The plugin automatically reads the sheet and displays the corresponding frames when an object is configured as animated.
Your animated icons are stored inside AnimatedIconSet.png. Simply place the file inside img/system.
Each frame uses RPG Maker MZ’s icon dimensions, following:
ImageManager.iconWidth
ImageManager.iconHeight
This means you can build your animated icon sheet following the same icon dimensions used by your project.
The number assigned to each animation corresponds to its row inside AnimatedIconSet.
So you don’t have to reorganize your regular RPG Maker icons just to add animations. Your normal IconSet can stay exactly where it is. 
How to use:
It can be used with:
Items • Weapons • Armors • Skills • States
To make an icon animated, simply add the <Animated> notetag to the Notes field of the desired database entry.
<Animated>
IconAnimNumber: [The number corresponds to the horizontal row.]
SecuenceSpeed: [Controls the speed of the animation.]
SecuenceRepeat: [Controls when the sequence start again.]
</Animated>
Some animations need their most important moment to last just a little longer.
For those cases, you can optionally add below SecuenceRepeat: the parameter PauseOnFrame3:
<Animated>
IconAnimNumber:
SecuenceSpeed:
SecuenceRepeat:
PauseOnFrame3:
</Animated>
Animated Icons System uses a ping-pong animation, meaning the sequence moves forward and then returns naturally instead of abruptly jumping back to the beginning.
With three frames, the sequence works like this:
1 → 2 → 3 → 2 → 1
Once it returns to Frame 1, SecuenceRepeat determines the idle pause before the animation begins again.
1 → 2 → 3 → 2 → 1
↓
Idle Pause
↓
2 → 3 → 2 → 1...
If PauseOnFrame3 is enabled, Frame 3 can also have its own additional pause:
1 → 2 → 3 → 2 → 1
↑ ↑
Frame 3 Idle
Pause Pause
This gives you control over both the resting moment and the visual climax of an animation.
Installation:
After downloading the plugin, you will find the folder containing the plugin file and the resources needed to create your animated icon set.
Inside the package you’ll find:
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The main plugin file Megum_Animated Icons System.js
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Empty AnimatedIconSet.png
- A clean, ready-to-use image where you can add your own animated icons.
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Template with grid.png
- A grid template showing the 32×32 px divisions for each icon frame, making it easier to create and align your animations correctly.
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Example AnimatedIconSet.png
- A ready-made example containing original animated icons included with the plugin. You can use it as a reference, test it directly in your project, or use the included icons in your game.
Installation steps:
Place the plugin js file inside:
js/plugins/
Place your chosen AnimatedIconSet.png inside:
img/system/
By default, name the image:
AnimatedIconSet.png
Add and enable Megum Animated Icons System from RPG Maker MZ’s Plugin Manager.
Remember to add the<Animated>notetag to any supported database entry you want to animate.
And you’re ready to go!
Terms of Use:
- Can be used in commercial and non-commercial RPG Maker MZ projects. ✦
- Please credit me as Megum. ✦
- Do not redistribute or resell the plugin itself. ✦
- Do not claim the plugin code as your own. ✦
- The license applies to the purchaser and does not grant permission to publicly redistribute the plugin files. ✦
︎ Download:
Download plugin Here