How to reverse color gradient effect

Questions & Answers
1

Hi, I’m currently dealing with something that’s mostly figured out, but the opposite of what I want is occurring.

What I’m trying to do is that when an object above the player is approaching more closely, the screen gets darker for a claustrophobic feel. What’s happening instead is that when the object gets further away, the screen gets darker; and if the object gets closer, the screen gets brighter. How would I reverse this effect?

Also, sorry if the code isn’t elegant; still learning C#. Thank you!

void Crushed()
    {
        ///Create a screen-darken effect around the borders if the player is close to being crushed.
        
        RaycastHit2D hitUpRange = new RaycastHit2D();
        hitUpRange = Physics2D.Raycast(transform.position, Vector2.up, crushRangeMax, whatIsHexPlate);

        RaycastHit2D hitDownRange = new RaycastHit2D();
        hitDownRange = Physics2D.Raycast(transform.position, Vector2.down, crushRangeMax, whatIsHexPlate);

        if ((hitUpRange.collider != null && hitUpRange.collider.tag == "HexPlate") && (hitDownRange.collider != null && hitDownRange.collider.tag == "HexPlate"))
        {
            isInCrushRange = true;

            other = hitUpRange.collider.transform;
            float crushRangeDistance = Vector2.Distance(other.position, transform.position);
            gradientColor = new Color(0f, 0f, 0f, (crushRangeDistance * .1f));
        }
        else
        {
            isInCrushRange = false;
        }

        if (isInCrushRange)
        {
            crushImage.color = gradientColor;
        }
        else
        {
            crushImage.color = new Color(0f, 0f, 0f, 0f);
        }
2

On this line you are decreasing the alpha value as the object gets closer.

gradientColor = new Color(0f, 0f, 0f, (crushRangeDistance * .1f));

0 alpha is completely transparent and 1 is completely opaque, so we gotta go the other way around by subtracting the distance from 1.

gradientColor = new Color(0f, 0f, 0f, 1f - (crushRangeDistance * .1f));

I’m not sure if negative alpha values will throw up errors (haven’t tested that), so just in case add a Mathf.Clamp() to keep anything negative as 0f. Like this:

gradientColor = new Color(0f, 0f, 0f, Mathf.Clamp(1f - (crushRangeDistance * .1f), 0f, 1f));