prior to theoriginal Playstation’s era) 2D games used a number of ways to fake reflections.
Likewise, showing a character’s reflection in a mirror simply means showing a horizontally-flipped copy of the sprite.
One common trick was to use “portals” or duplicate rooms.
you’ve got the option to see this inDuke Nukem 3D.
Another common technique in 3D games was the use of planar reflections.
Cube maps are another clever technique to fake reflections.
Although it’s an old technique, cube maps are also still in use, along with planar reflections.
It’s all about using the right method for the right object.
Possibly the most popular modern method to create reflections in games is SSR or Screen Space Reflection.
Sydney Louw Butler / How-To Geek / MidJourney
This is much less expensive than rendering the entire scene again.
This looks great in general, but has some major drawbacks as well.
Look at these images, where the character looks slightly up and down.
Rik Hideto via Mobygames
Since mirrors reflect everything behind the viewer, there’s nothing in screen space to create a reflection.
Without ray tracing, you wouldn’t see those buildings at all.
