Fake Tube Interior Using Classic Parallax Windows Trick
"Everything in gamedev is fake. This is just a little more fake than usual."
As Emilio López put it, "Everything in rendering is smoke and mirrors, except smoke and mirrors, particularly smoke in mirrors." Thomas van den Berg from noio games shared a really fascinating application of a trick you've likely encountered many times, or perhaps even tried yourself, though it's traditionally used to fake window interiors.
Generally, this is a cheaper approach than using real geometry. However, in this case, the developer estimates it may actually be slightly more expensive than the "real" version, but the difference is negligible, and this method offers some nice advantages:
Thomas is using this approach in GARBAGE COUNTRY, a post-apocalyptic exploration sim where you drive across a handcrafted wasteland and discover what remains of the world left behind. You can wishlist the game here and follow him on X/Twitter for updates:
Hear Tell of Hauntings uses a similar parallax trick, while takkun's setup replaces windows and doors with a mouth:
This technique is widely used in open-world games, and if you haven't come across it before, check out our article based on Joost van Dongen's detailed breakdown of the method.
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