Adding Fake Shadows to My Puzzle Game
The article discusses improvements made to the puzzle game 'Let's Learn!'. Key changes include the addition of fake shadows using a DecalCompatibility node and the implementation of dynamic camera height. The author also streamlined the physics object creation process and optimized texture usage to enhance performance.
- ▪The original shadow system created unattractive dark shadows, prompting a redesign.
- ▪A community plugin was utilized to enable decal functionality in the compatibility renderer.
- ▪Dynamic camera height was added to improve player experience during gameplay.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Making Fake Shadows In early versions of 'Let's Learn!', the sun was pointing directly downwards. This allowed for the object's shadow to perfectly communicate to the player where it would fall. Additionally, it makes it clear to the player where and how a complex shape would fall onto another object below. I loved the functionality that this setup provided, but it resulted in ugly dark shadows on the bottom of every object in the scene. To make all the objects in the scene look better, I added proper lighting and replaced the 'drop shadow' from the sun with a simple 3D arrow to indicate where the held object would fall. It was important that we had SOME kind of indicator, because there is no depth information provided by the orthographic camera.
…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at itch.io.
