The standard approach to texturing most objects in most games tends to be to just assign each object to use some combination of diffuse coloring, specularity, normal mapping, transparency, and emission. More advanced physically-based shading techniques are also sometimes used, depending on the needs of each project.
This is all well and good of course, and works fine for many use cases, but sometimes it can get a bit stale. There are a lot more fun and imaginative things that you can do with shaders than just these standard use cases. A shader will let you express any arbitrary visual effect you want. You just need to know how to communicate your intent properly. If you can dream it, you can shade it, pretty much.
Continue reading Game Dev Tip #4: Breathe life into your game with custom shaders and special effects