A few environment settings turn a flat scene into a mood. We tune the WorldEnvironment with fog and glow so GlitchFall's emissive fragments and hazards actually bloom, and the world feels like a place.
▸ By the end of this lesson: A moody, glowing environment that makes the emissive elements shine
10.1Turn on glow (bloom)
Open main.tscn, select the WorldEnvironment, and edit its Environment resource.
Expand Glow and enable it. Raise Glow → Intensity and lower Glow → HDR Threshold toward 1.0 so bright emissive surfaces bloom.
Why emission + glow
Emission makes a material output light-colored pixels; glow (bloom) makes bright pixels bleed into their surroundings. Together they make fragments and the unlocked exit feel like they're radiating — the payoff for using emissive materials earlier.
10.2Add fog for depth
In the same Environment, expand Fog and enable it. Set a low Density and a color that matches the mood (a cool blue-violet suits GlitchFall).
Optionally enable Volumetric Fog for god-ray depth, but plain fog is cheaper and reads fine.
Fog can swallow the level
Too much density and the whole scene fogs to a flat color. Start with a very low density (like 0.01) and nudge up. Fog is a seasoning, not a main course.
10.3Tune ambient light and sky
In the Environment, under Ambient Light, set the Source to Sky so surfaces pick up sky color in shadow — no pure-black shadows.
Adjust the ProceduralSkyMaterial sky/horizon colors toward the palette you want. A darker, desaturated sky sells a corrupted world.
10.4A camera adjustment for mood
Select the Camera3D in player.tscn. Lower its FOV slightly (e.g. 65) for a less fisheye look, or raise it for a faster, tenser feel.
Optionally nudge the camera's offset (further back/higher) until framing feels right for exploration.
Iterate by running
Environment tuning is a feedback loop: change a value, press F6, look, adjust. There's no single correct setting — trust your eye. Take a screenshot before and after so you can compare.
Run with F6. Fragments and the unlocked exit now glow; distance fades into fog; shadows aren't dead black.
The game reads as a place with atmosphere, not a grey test box.
Checkpoint — expected state
Glow enabled so emissive fragments and the exit bloom.
Light fog for depth without swallowing the level.
Sky-sourced ambient light and a fitting sky palette.