InputAdvanced

Aim Assist

The reticle slows down over targets and gets a gentle pull toward them — aiming that flatters the player's hands.

inputaimingmagnetismshooter

Examples

Captured from this page's own interactive demo below.

Overview

Every console shooter you've ever enjoyed was quietly helping you aim. The two workhorses are friction and magnetism: friction lowers look sensitivity while the reticle is over (or near) a target, so you naturally stop on them instead of sweeping past; magnetism adds a small steering force that drags the aim toward the target's center. Tuned right, the player is certain they did it themselves.

Friction is the safe tool — it never moves the reticle, it just makes the right place sticky, and it's the bulk of the assist in most AAA shooters. Magnetism is stronger medicine: it acts while the player is actively turning (or the target is strafing), bending the aim's path. Keep its strength proportional to how fast things are moving and it stays invisible; make it act on a stationary reticle and it becomes a visible tractor beam.

Assist is a budget spread across the roster: more for touch controls, a lot for gamepads, little or none for mouse. It should scale down with target distance, turn off through walls, and pick ONE target when several overlap — the swap between candidates is where assists visibly glitch. And it's a trust system: the moment a player notices the pull fighting their intent, they'll fight back forever.

Interactive Demo

raw input sweeps straight right — the assist bends the path onto targets · ✕ = hits

✕ 0

Assist Radius45px

Magnetism60%

Use Cases

Gamepad and touch shootersLock-on melee combatCursor snapping in console UIsBall-catching and tackling in sports games

Best Practices

Do

✓Lead with friction (sensitivity drop near targets) — it's invisible; add magnetism only on top of movement.
✓Scale the assist with input device: strong for touch, moderate for sticks, off for mouse by default.
✓Pick one target and stick with it until the reticle clearly leaves; candidate-swapping is where assists glitch visibly.

Don't

✕Don't pull a stationary reticle — assist should amplify intent in motion, never act while the hands are still.
✕Don't let magnetism track targets through smoke or walls; players read that as the game aiming for them.
✕Don't tune on stationary targets only — the real test is a strafing enemy crossing another one.

Common Mistakes

⚠Assist zones so large that aiming BETWEEN two enemies becomes impossible — the reticle keeps getting stolen.
⚠Magnetism applied every frame regardless of input, slowly dragging an idle player's view across the screen.
⚠The same assist budget on mouse and gamepad 'for fairness', which mouse players experience as input lag.

Implementation

Paste this into your AI assistant (Cursor, Copilot, Claude) to add the effect to your project.

Prompt

Add the "Aim Assist" game-feel effect to my project: The reticle slows down over targets and gets a gentle pull toward them — aiming that flatters the player's hands.

How it works: Every console shooter you've ever enjoyed was quietly helping you aim. The two workhorses are friction and magnetism: friction lowers look sensitivity while the reticle is over (or near) a target, so you naturally stop on them instead of sweeping past; magnetism adds a small steering force that drags the aim toward the target's center. Tuned right, the player is certain they did it themselves.

Guidelines:
- Lead with friction (sensitivity drop near targets) — it's invisible; add magnetism only on top of movement.
- Scale the assist with input device: strong for touch, moderate for sticks, off for mouse by default.
- Pick one target and stick with it until the reticle clearly leaves; candidate-swapping is where assists glitch visibly.

Avoid:
- Don't pull a stationary reticle — assist should amplify intent in motion, never act while the hands are still.
- Don't let magnetism track targets through smoke or walls; players read that as the game aiming for them.
- Don't tune on stationary targets only — the real test is a strafing enemy crossing another one.

Implement the effect in whatever engine/stack the project already uses and follow its existing code style. Wire it up where it makes sense.