Highlighting Interactables

 

Now that the portals and transitions were stable, I wanted to start adding more interactions to each scene — little moments where players could explore and examine the world more closely.

One of the first features I built was a simple highlight-and-prompt system. Basically, when the player gets close to a certain object (like an image or artifact), it lights up slightly, and a small on-screen prompt appears:
“Press E to View”

How It Works

Each interactable object has a trigger zone around it — usually just a small invisible collider. When the player enters this zone, a script checks for the player's tag, then:

• Highlights the object (using an outline shader or just a subtle glow)

• Enables a UI prompt on screen

• Waits for the player to press the E key

Once E is pressed, a larger version of the image appears on screen, kind of like a zoom-in or close-up gallery view.

Small Touches That Help

I added a short delay before the highlight disappears when the player walks away — just to keep it smooth. It felt jarring when the prompt vanished instantly the moment you stepped out of the trigger zone.

Also, to keep things tidy, I made sure that only one object can be highlighted at a time, even if two are close together. That meant writing a little manager script to track which object has “focus” at any given moment.

Why It Matters

It’s a small feature, but it really helps make the world feel alive. Instead of just walking through static scenes, the player can now stop, explore, and learn more about specific elements in each environment.

This system also sets up some future mechanics — like dialogue triggers, item pickups, or deeper story clues. One step at a time.