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This game DISAPPEARS if you pause it!

Branta Games · 687.1K views · 2024-11-24 · 3:58

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Overview

A game-dev video demonstrating a noise shader in Godot where shapes are visible only in motion against animated noise and vanish when the game is paused or screenshotted. The demo is available on GitHub.

On Hacker News

HN people cite it as the origin of the vanishing-in-a-screenshot effect, used in ideas for captchas and AI-resistant text.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2025–2026

Topics

Computer graphics & renderingIndie game developmentGame programming & engines
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shadergodotanimated noisegame devvisual illusion

What people said

rzzzt · 2026-07 · Reference

Related work (all involve noise and flickering images, photosensitive eyes/brains beware): - "This game disappears if you pause it": [VIDEO] - "Illusion: If You Pause, The Image Will Disappear": [LINK]

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vunderba · 2026-07 · Reference

There was a pretty popular video showing this exact concept (hiding shapes/text in high frequency noise ) about a year ago, for those interested: [VIDEO]

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Syntonicles · 2025-09 · Reference

I first saw this effect in a video from Branta Games. [VIDEO] The effect is disrupted by introducing rendering artifacts, by watching the video in 144p or in this case by zooming out. I'd love to know the name of this effect, so I can read more about the fMRI studies that make use of it. What I've found so far: Random Dot Kinematogram Perceptual Organization from Motion (video of Flounder camouflage) [LINK]

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Sources

Video by Branta Games, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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