Game Dev Shared Cheap Visual Tricks Behind Various Games
Swapping textures to simulate motion blur, creating reflections by placing the same room beneath a glass floor, adding a wobbly floor to mimic water movement, and more.
speaking of cool cheap effects: the shadow from the ceiling fan in Robo Recall is not a real shadow or even a light function or even a decal, it's a rotating translucent mesh
— Joe Wintergreen (@joewintergreen.com) 6 февраля 2026 г. в 08:23
[image or embed]
This is one of our favorite subjects: the clever, cost-effective shortcuts in game development, used both then and now. Joe Wintergreen, who worked on WolfEye Studios' debut game, Weird West, recently shared some behind-the-scenes insights that are sure to delight you.
He began with the original Halo replacing the Warthog's tire texture with a blurry one when the wheels spin fast. The developer then showcased a ceiling fan shadow in the VR shooter Robo Recall, which isn't a shadow at all but a rotating translucent mesh.
Half-Life: Blue Shift used a classic fake reflection trick by simply placing the same room under a glass surface. As Wintergreen pointed out, many old games did this, but Unreal Engine 1 games didn't, and Deus Ex had real reflections:
half-life blue shift does a classic fake reflection where it's just the same room under a glass floor. lots of old games did this, but ue1 games didn't! deus ex had real reflections. cool
— Joe Wintergreen (@joewintergreen.com) 6 февраля 2026 г. в 08:24
[image or embed]
Apparently, in this mobile tech demo, the swimming pool refraction is simulated by the literal wobbling of underwater concrete:
meanwhile the Zen Garden ue4 mobile tech demo looks like the swimming pool has cool refraction shader stuff going on but it's actually offsetting the actual verts down there in the shader. the underwater concrete is just literally wobbling
— Joe Wintergreen (@joewintergreen.com) 6 февраля 2026 г. в 08:26
[image or embed]
You can find other interesting examples in the original thread, and for even more, check out our article.
Also, subscribe to our Newsletter and join our 80 Level Talent platform, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, and Instagram, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.
