An adventure game cannot exist without torches! While working on the inventory and container system, I created a few test items—including a torch—which led to a deep dive into dynamic lighting.
When the torch is held, it uses a real-time light source. But once released, it switches seamlessly to fast block-based global illumination. If you look closely in the video, you’ll see the lighting transition as I drop the torch into a pit or throw it through a window. The block lighting updates quickly enough that it feels almost real-time. There are no shadow calculations going on!
This setup allows for objects like torches to cast dynamic light when held while the player is moving and still integrate smoothly into the more visually accurate block based global illumination system when placed, dropped, or thrown—enabling a large number of interactive light sources in the world.
