God Rays in 3D Pixel Art Game Engine

Date of Recording: 2021-01-23 Using the light-space shadow map of the sun, I can project some quads on the scene to compute sunbeams (god rays) with just some texture sampling, without the need to do any raycasting or raytracing. This effect can then be modulated by the camera angle, time of day, and rain density, to create some pretty nice atmospheric effects. Hard edges on the rays helps to preserve the crisp, pixel art aesthetic.