Answer first
The best Hider workflow is Spot -> Shape -> Shade -> Stillness. A Seeker usually notices that something exists before deciding whether its exact color is wrong. Put your effort in that same order.
1. Spot: join a visual sentence
A strong spot gives your body a reason to be there. Look for repetition, overlapping edges, clutter, shadow transitions, and approach angles that reduce the time a Seeker can inspect you.
Better questions than “Is it dark?”
- Does this area already contain several objects of similar visual mass?
- Can a wall, frame, pipe, or furniture edge split my outline?
- Will the likely approach show my thin side or my widest side?
- Does my body add a new object where the scene was previously empty?
Field limit: dark corners help only when brightness and silhouette also fit. A dark human-shaped blob is still a human-shaped blob.
2. Shape: remove the readable body
Choose a pose after the surrounding object family, not after a favorite animation. Compact scenes want compact mass; panels want flat profiles; repeated uprights want narrow vertical lines.
Silhouette drill
Start with the nearby shape
Select what the surrounding object group looks like. The drill suggests a pose family, then gives you one failure test.
Suggested family
Compact mass
- Shape
- Short, dense, few protruding edges
- Try near
- rounded clutter, small stacked objects, tight shadow groups
- Avoid
- Open floors where a single new blob has no visual reason to exist.
- Failure test
- Blur your eyes. Does the body become one believable mass?
Suggested family
Flat profile
- Shape
- Wide or tall plane with reduced depth
- Try near
- panels, frames, sign-like shapes, broad wall breaks
- Avoid
- Angled approaches that reveal the body thickness.
- Failure test
- Move the camera two steps sideways. Does depth reveal the disguise?
Suggested family
Vertical line
- Shape
- Narrow upright silhouette
- Try near
- posts, trim, pipe-like lines, tall object clusters
- Avoid
- Spaces where nearby verticals have a strict, even rhythm.
- Failure test
- Does the body's centerline continue a line already in the scene?
Suggested family
Low horizontal
- Shape
- Long, low visual weight
- Try near
- floor edges, low furniture, base trim, object piles
- Avoid
- Clean walkways where the outline interrupts empty floor.
- Failure test
- Is every protruding limb supported by nearby clutter?
Suggested family
Broken contour
- Shape
- Asymmetric outline split by surrounding objects
- Try near
- dense clutter, irregular prop groups, overlapping edges
- Avoid
- Regular patterns; asymmetry becomes the anomaly.
- Failure test
- Can a Seeker trace a complete body outline without interruption?
3. Shade: paint the light, not the color name
Start with overall brightness. Then place the largest light/dark division, then the dominant hue, and only then consider texture marks. When time is short, correct value and edge direction are higher priority than detailed decoration.
Camouflage lab / original diagram
Color match is only layer three
Use the controls to expose one failure at a time. The body is abstract on purpose: this is a visual principle drill, not a copy of game art.
Field read: workable. Now test the silhouette from a second angle.
4. Stillness: do not answer the Seeker's question
A disguise does not need to become invisible. It needs to create enough uncertainty that a Seeker spends time or moves on. Unnecessary movement converts uncertainty into confirmation.
- Finish camera adjustments before the search reaches your zone.
- Do not “peek” because a Seeker looked away for one moment.
- If the current mode requires movement or role changes, adapt to the visible rules rather than applying stillness blindly.
Diagnose the reveal, one layer at a time
| What the Seeker saw | Likely failure | Next test |
|---|---|---|
| You were checked immediately on room entry. | Spot or silhouette. | Use a different approach angle and trace the outer contour. |
| The Seeker passed, turned back, then found you. | Depth or reverse-angle silhouette. | Side-step the camera during prep. |
| You blended at distance but popped up close. | Edge, brightness, or pattern direction. | Reduce fine marks and fix the largest mismatch. |
| You were safe until you adjusted. | Movement. | Set a no-input point before the zone is searched. |