Yes, indeed fullbright would stop that. But it's better that way. The best way to simulate local dynamic lights like torches are via decals ( sprites aligned to and overlaid onto a wall ) to brighten them. Halo was working on something like this so you'll probably find some interesting discussion ( and a fair amount of bickering ;) ) in one of those threads.
Don't worry too much about shaders. They just allow you to adjust vertex ( and pixel ) colors much faster than you can otherwise.
Don't worry too much about shaders. They just allow you to adjust vertex ( and pixel ) colors much faster than you can otherwise.