There was a request for a pressure plate switches, and gates that would open once the fully suppresses the switch to the ground.
The switch needed to provide feedback to the player indicating they were affecting the plate. The solution I came up with was to add lights to the top and sides of the pad, so I created a shader for the lights which was driven by channels provided by the systems controlling the status of the switch.
When the player was making progress on the pressure plate the lights would blink. When there was no progress on the switch the lights were yellow, and the closer the player is to completing the press the more blue the shader tints. Once the task is complete, the shader fades out to look like unlit glass.
Switch at start
Switch near end
Switch completed
Once the pressure plate is depressed the gate opens. I rigged and animated this gate, and added sparks around the top edge to give the indication of metal scraping as it raises up.
