Camera Shake
Briefly jolting the camera to sell weight, impact, or danger.
Hit Stop
Freezing the action for a few frames right when a hit connects.
Squash & Stretch
Deforming a shape along its motion to sell weight, speed, and material.
Button Press
Giving a button real, tactile feedback the instant it's pressed.
Elastic / Overshoot
Letting a motion overshoot its target and settle, instead of stopping dead.
Screen Flash
A brief full-screen (or local) flash of color to punctuate a big moment.
Knockback / Recoil
Jolting a character or weapon backward the instant it deals or takes a hit.
Floating Numbers
Damage/heal numbers that pop up and float away from the point of impact.
Combo Popup
A punchy on-screen callout that celebrates a combo, streak, or milestone.
Trail
A fading streak left behind a fast-moving object to make its motion readable.
Wobble / Jiggle
A decaying oscillation that makes an object feel soft, springy, or alive.
Slow Motion
Briefly dropping the game's time scale to stretch out a dramatic moment.
Flick
Flashing the hit object itself white (or a color) for a few frames — also known as hit flash.
Zoom Punch
A quick camera zoom-in that snaps back, punching emphasis into a moment.
Anticipation
A wind-up in the opposite direction before an action, telegraphing what's coming.
Follow Through
Loose parts keep moving after the main body stops — hair, capes, weapon tips.
Audio Pitch Randomization
Slightly varying the pitch of repeated sounds so they never feel machine-gunned.
Parallax
Background layers scrolling slower than the foreground to fake depth.
Screen Fader
Fading the screen to black to hide scene changes and frame transitions cleanly.
Delayed Health Bar
A ghost segment that lingers after damage, showing exactly how much a hit took.
Score Ticker
Rolling a score up to its new value instead of snapping, so gains feel earned.
Particle Burst
A radial spray of short-lived particles that marks an impact or a pickup.
Smooth Camera Follow
A camera that eases after its target with lag and look-ahead instead of hard-locking.
Easing (Slow In / Slow Out)
Accelerating into and decelerating out of motion instead of moving at constant speed.
Coyote Time
Letting the player still jump for a few frames after walking off a ledge.
Input Buffering
Remembering a slightly-early input and executing it the moment it becomes possible.
Shockwave Distortion
An expanding ring that visibly warps the scene behind it, like a blast wave through air.
Bullet Time
Slowing the world while the player keeps moving at full speed — two clocks, not one.
Punch Scale
Popping an object's scale up for an instant, then settling it back with a bounce.
Typewriter Text
Revealing dialog one character at a time, with pauses that give the line a voice.
Audio Ducking
Briefly lowering the music so important sounds punch through the mix.
Musical Stinger
A short musical accent played on top of the soundtrack when something notable happens.
Adaptive Music Layers
Music stems fading in and out with game intensity, so the score follows the action.
Footsteps
Steps that sound and puff dust in rhythm with actual movement, grounding the character in the world.
Impact Sparks
Sparks bursting off the surface when something hits a wall — collisions you can see.
Charge-Up
Visible power gathering — glow, converging particles, and a growing tremble before the release.
Muzzle Flash
A one-or-two-frame burst of light at the barrel — the visual crack that makes a gun feel loaded.
Damage Direction Indicator
A red arc around the player pointing at where the hit came from — pain with a compass.
Low-Health Warning
Pulsing red vignette and a heartbeat when health drops low — danger you feel before you read.
Loot Magnet
Coins accelerating into the player from a radius — pickups that come to you feel like being rich.
Death Dissolve
Enemies burning away into glowing fragments instead of blinking out — a death worth watching.
Chromatic Aberration
A split-second RGB split on impact — for one frame, the lens itself flinches.