Tune Game Feel

Enhance player agency, perceived responsiveness, and sensory impact through structured "juice" pipelines without compromising deterministic simulation.

Core Rules

• Decoupled Juice Architecture: Keep sensory polish (camera shake, freeze frames, particle bursts, chromatic aberration) strictly decoupled from core game mechanics and simulation state. Disabling juice must leave game logic fully intact.
• Input Forgiveness Windows: Implement coyote time ($50\text{--}120\text{ms}$) and input jump/action buffering ($80\text{--}150\text{ms}$) to absorb human timing variances and frame pacing drops.
• Decay Curve Discipline: Always drive screen shake and recoil with non-linear exponential or power decay curves ($I(t) = I_0 \cdot e^{-k t}$ or $(1-t)^2$) rather than linear decay to avoid robotic jarring.
• Micro-Hit-Stop Limits: Restrict hit-stop (frame freezing) to $2\text{--}8$ frames ($33\text{--}133\text{ms}$). Never freeze the entire engine process; pause only actor animation and movement timelines while keeping VFX active.

Suggested Process

1. Timing Tolerances Calibration

Implement timer counters for:

• Coyote Time: Allow jumping shortly after leaving a ledge: time_since_grounded <= coyote_threshold.
• Input Buffer: Queue action presses: time_since_pressed <= buffer_threshold.
• Variable Jump Cutoff: When jump button is released early, scale downward gravity or cap upward velocity.