I’ve been wrestling with a tricky problem regarding camera recoil in my game, and I’m hoping for some insights from anyone who’s dealt with similar issues. To give you some context, I’ve been trying to implement a recoil system that feels smooth and responsive, regardless of the frame rate. The catch is, I want to avoid the inconsistencies that often come with varying frame rates, which can totally mess with the player’s experience.
So here’s where I’m at: I initially thought the solution was to multiply a given recoil amount by delta time, which makes sense to keep things frame-independent. But when I apply this to the camera’s offset, the results are inconsistent due to the additive nature of how we apply rotations. It ends up causing quite a bit of jerkiness, especially noticeable when the frame rate dips or spikes.
I’ve played around with various interpolation functions to create smoother transitions, like using a lerp function where I interpolate between the current camera rotation and the recoil amount. But here’s the rub—when I try to use a speed variable in the lerp, it seems to compound the problem. The faster the frame rate, the more it adds up, and it almost feels like I’m just pushing the problem down the road instead of solving it.
At one point, I thought maybe I can just crank up the speed of the interpolation to such a high level that the transitions become imperceptible. But that just feels like a band-aid fix. I’m left wondering whether I should approach this by trying to interpolate to a fixed rotation offset instead of continually adding to the current one. But then, would that just lead me back to square one?
Have any of you tackled this issue? What are some effective strategies you’ve used to achieve that frame-independent yet smooth recoil experience? I’d love to hear your thoughts and any methods you might recommend!
Camera Recoil Troubles
Recoil can be such a tricky thing to nail down! It sounds like you’re on the right track with the idea of making it frame-independent by using delta time. But yeah, the additive nature of rotations can totally mess things up, especially when you’re dealing with varying frame rates.
One method that might help is to keep track of the recoil as a fixed offset rather than adding to the camera’s current rotation. You could calculate the recoil based on the last shot fired and apply it as a separate offset. That way, when you shoot, you apply the recoil offset and then maybe use a lerp to gradually take it back to where it should be over time.
Instead of constantly adding to the camera’s rotation, consider defining a target rotation that reflects where you want the camera to end up after the recoil. You can then interpolate to this target. This could help mitigate the jerkiness since the camera will be trying to move towards a fixed point rather than adding to what it already has.
And about the lerping speed, yeah, it can kind of spiral out of control when the frame rate fluctuates. Maybe calculate the lerp speed based on the frame time itself or a minimum speed threshold that feels responsive but doesn’t overreact to frame changes. That way, you can keep the movement smooth even if your frame rate dips.
Lastly, testing different interpolation methods might give you a better feel—like cubic easing functions that can create a softer response compared to linear ones. It’s all about finding what feels ‘right’ for your game!
Hope this helps you out, and good luck with the recoil system!
Applying recoil in a way that’s frame-independent yet visually smooth can indeed be tricky. The root issue you’re running into stems from directly multiplying recoil amounts by delta time and continually accumulating offsets, which often magnifies inaccuracies and jitter. A more effective method is to separate your recoil logic into two clear stages: first, calculate a target recoil rotation offset once for each shot fired, independently from frame rate. Then, instead of continuously applying additive recoil every frame, smoothly interpolate toward that static recoil offset value. This can be achieved by using functions like Mathf.SmoothDamp (Unity) or exponential smoothing techniques, as these are explicitly designed to guarantee consistent transitions independent of frame rate fluctuations. By decoupling recoil strength from framerate-dependent addition, you ensure smooth transitions regardless of FPS dips or spikes.
In practice, this means you wouldn’t be continually adding recoil per frame; instead, you’d set a static recoil target and smoothly transition the camera toward and away from that rotation offset each time recoil occurs. For instance, each shot sets a recoil “goal,” and each frame you smoothly damp or interpolate toward that fixed goal, remaining consistent regardless of how the frame rate varies. Additionally, to maintain responsiveness, adjust the interpolation’s smoothing values with a fixed time scale rather than delta time directly—methods like SmoothDamp take into account historical velocity and make timing more graceful. Ultimately, this approach provides controlled, reliable recoil behavior that’ll feel smooth, responsive, and unaffected by performance fluctuations.