ASMR · Tactile
Second Unity app. Shaders and particle systems doing satisfying things: fluids, paint, kinetic sand. A study in what 'tactile' looks like when there's no actual tactile feedback.
The why
An exploration of what "tactile satisfaction" looks like when you don't have actual tactile feedback. Phones don't have meaningful haptics for most users.
Can software fake the feeling of weight, friction, fluidity, paint flow? If yes, what does that take?
The approach
A small set of interactive shaders. Kinetic sand that responds to drag. Paint that mixes when you pour. A fluid sim with surface tension.
Each one tuned for "this feels like it should feel" rather than physical realism. The goal was the perception, not the simulation.
What we learned
Physical realism matters less than reaction time. A 16ms response to touch with a slightly wrong physics model feels more tactile than a perfect simulation at 33ms. Latency is what your fingers notice.
Shader-based satisfaction is finicky to design. What feels good depends heavily on screen size, ambient light, and how hard you press, which the OS doesn't always tell us.
Status
Shipped 2023. Stable.