A lot of players on the discord are having a hissy fit about not being able to hide in shadows. Their primary argument is that it's "unrealistic". I plead you to not reject this concern just because that argument is bad, I think there is a design problem with how the game communicates some rules to players.
Humans instinctively understand line-of-sight, apparent size, speed of movement, and light/dark as the primary ways that they can hide. This is instinctual, so If a game has a pitch black corner, it is communicating (whether intended or not) "hide here" to the player.
Additionally, stealth games are about the control of information, you want to have more information about the position of an enemy than they have about you. That means it's doubly frustrating for players for the game to have shadows that make it more difficult for them to see, but have no impact on enemies.
I have 3 different suggestions to solve this problem. I don't know enough about your game to know which is easier:
A: Make shadows decrease enemy awareness. (this is what most people are asking for)
B: Remove dark areas from the game. (By adding lights).
C: Make the player a light source. (a low intensity point light with fall-off to 1 meter)
I like option C, for a few reasons.
1: I'm pretty sure it would be the simplest to implement.
2: It communicates to the player that they are easy to spot, that shadows won't help them.
3: It would illuminate adjacent dark objects for the players, reducing some players frustration with low visibility of geometry in some areas.
4: The player is a robot, so people won't think it's crazy.
Humans instinctively understand line-of-sight, apparent size, speed of movement, and light/dark as the primary ways that they can hide. This is instinctual, so If a game has a pitch black corner, it is communicating (whether intended or not) "hide here" to the player.
Additionally, stealth games are about the control of information, you want to have more information about the position of an enemy than they have about you. That means it's doubly frustrating for players for the game to have shadows that make it more difficult for them to see, but have no impact on enemies.
I have 3 different suggestions to solve this problem. I don't know enough about your game to know which is easier:
A: Make shadows decrease enemy awareness. (this is what most people are asking for)
B: Remove dark areas from the game. (By adding lights).
C: Make the player a light source. (a low intensity point light with fall-off to 1 meter)
I like option C, for a few reasons.
1: I'm pretty sure it would be the simplest to implement.
2: It communicates to the player that they are easy to spot, that shadows won't help them.
3: It would illuminate adjacent dark objects for the players, reducing some players frustration with low visibility of geometry in some areas.
4: The player is a robot, so people won't think it's crazy.