The juice toolbox

A handful of techniques do most of the work. Use them in small doses — juice is seasoning, not the meal.

• Screen shake — a brief camera jolt sells impact (keep it small; big shake nauseates)
• Hit-stop (freeze frames) — pause the game for a few milliseconds on a big hit so the blow lands
• Particles — sparks, dust, and debris make impacts and movement feel physical
• Tweening / easing — animate values (scale, position) smoothly instead of snapping, e.g. a button that pops when pressed
• Squash & stretch on objects — a coin that scales up as it is collected reads as satisfying