Cool bubble effect using something like CCParticle in Cocos2d (no third party tools)

Question

I would like to achieve a cool particle effect like in here.

The bubble should be similar to an explosion starting from the centre and expanding. I'd like to add an animated wave coming out from the left and right side of the bubble and looking like this. I guess I could use to two distinct animation and put together as I assume this has never been done in a Cocos2d game.

Also, I would like to avoid using non-Cocos2d tools as particle designer. In chapter 1 of the Cocos2d cookbook I found some cool particle examples and the code doesn't seem too complex. Instead, using third party tools I need to import their classes and use their file format to create particles and I have to pay. Even more there doesn't seem to be many particle effect files shared (at least not the ones I want).

Thanks a lot.

EDIT: I added a comment with a theory on how the first of the two animation could work.

Answer 1

Your best chance is with Particle Designer. You can modify the emitters in the library and visualize your changes. It's the easiest way to achieve a great effect. Once you find the combination of values that you like , you can simply create an emitter from code and set all those properties yourself. You don't have to pay or use any class (which you actually don't have to , it's already built in cocos2D) . So just download the free version of Particle Designer and then set the values from code. It's the same thing , it only takes a bit more work to do.