This post currently has placeholder images and videos. I’m just waiting on the green light from PlaySide to include the actual media I’d like to share.

In the game Shattered (Unity - Quest 3 Mixed Reality) there is no real-time lighting. This is due to hardware limitations.

Instead some neat tricks are used for stationary lights turning on/off and a flashlight you can shine anywhere!

Lightmap Switching 💡

For stationary lights, lightmaps are pre-baked for all possible combinations of a level. This approach is highly performant and works great with automated tooling.

While I wasn’t responsible for implementing the lightmap switching system, I did help out with some of the configuration and bug fixing.

Torch 🔦

For the torch effect, I implemented lighting calculations in our custom shader and passed the torch’s position and direction as parameters.

The lighting logic was based on the “Light Casters” section from the LearnOpenGL website. I used this as a reference to correctly implement the spotlight-style falloff and intensity: https://learnopengl.com/Lighting/Light-casters

I created and applied a custom cookie texture to the torch to achieve a more realistic, torch-like lighting effect. The cookie mask was based on a blurred image of a glass crack.

Here’s an early prototype of the torch in action. It looks nearly identical to real-time lighting—the only giveaway is the lack of shadows cast by the torchlight.

Flicker / Diming Effect 🕯️

I also added dynamic light luminance control so we could create flickering or dimming effects on various light sources.

Here’s an early prototype of that effect: