VHS distortion effect active in Parallax Protocol — June 2025
The Problem
What I was trying to solve
Parallax Protocol needed a retro VHS aesthetic that felt authentic without tanking performance in multiplayer sessions. Post-process effects can be expensive — especially when every connected player needs a consistent visual experience. The challenge was building something that looked great but was cheap to run and easy to reuse.
What I Built
Technical breakdown
- Reusable scrambler function — modular noise function that drives both the scan line and chromatic aberration layers, callable from other materials
- Multiplayer optimization — reduced per-frame cost by batching distortion passes; consistent look across all clients without server-side overhead
- Parameterized intensity — exposed scramble strength and flicker rate as Blueprint-accessible variables for easy tuning during playtesting
- Scan line overlay — UV-based horizontal banding with time-driven offset to simulate CRT refresh artifacts
Reflection
What this taught me
Building for multiplayer forced me to think about shaders not just as visual tools but as shared computational resources. The reusable scrambler function became a pattern I carried into the Spooky Post Process shader — it showed me the value of writing materials the way you'd write a good utility function in code.
Research Question
How can post-process shaders be architected as modular, composable systems rather than one-off effects — and what does that look like as a design pattern across real-time game engines?