More Postcards from the Fringe

electricgryphon

electricgryphon

BBS

PICO-8 Cartridges

landscape_16

by electricgryphon

Cart #landscape_16-0 | 2019-10-05 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | No License

Old Version

Explore alien lands with a high-color world generator.

This is a new take on Postcards From the Fringe, which I made a few years ago. https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=28026

Press "z" to visit a new, random planet.

Features:
--High-color flicker dither technology with 4,096 indexed colors/patterns [Warning flashing lights]
--Endless bicubic noise mountains
--Mountain shape variations: islands, hills, spires, etc.
--Alien sunset sky with clouds
--Water with ripples and sky reflection
--Preview render in standard (non flicker) mode
--Anti-aliased image composing with alpha channel

To do:
--Ability to save / share worlds
--Controls to tweak variables

Technical:
This is a voxel landscape engine, actually adapted from Pico Kart but with height added. The system is not very optimized for speed right now... definitely room to make it a lot faster even if not real-time.
Color handling is taken from my Hypercolor Paint cart. The palettes of colors and patterns are loaded from cart memory and generated by another cart that takes ages to run.

-Electric Gryphon

P#68270 2019-09-30 05:26 ( Edited 2019-10-05 22:09)

electricgryphon

Bug: In Chrome Version 77.0.3865.90 (Official Build) (64-bit) Windows 60 fps update isn't stable/uneven flicker. Can be "fixed" by scrolling down and then back up.
60 fps works fine in standalone pico8 application mode.

P#68272 2019-09-30 05:34 ( Edited 2019-09-30 05:37)

freds72

neat!
would sharing the random seed by enough to recreate the landscape?

P#68277 2019-09-30 11:14

mrspeaker

This is amazing - really effective results!

P#68284 2019-09-30 15:40

dw817

Pretty and then ... oh no no ... that flicker isn't good at least for Firefox. Option to disable it ? Cause the rest of the picture is sweet.

P#68291 2019-09-30 16:07

electricgryphon

Yep... seems like the flicker is problematic/inconsistent.
I’m gonna put together an options control panel and have it off by default. (That will also make it easier to take screen shots.)

P#68293 2019-09-30 17:03

ultrabrite

looks great! I think I liked the dithering in the old version better though.

regarding the flickering I did post a html solution in there if you're interested: Secret Pico 8 Colors

P#68302 2019-09-30 19:33

dw817

Hi UB, wow, you guys did it years before me. Kudos !

https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=66233

Better but still hard on the eyes. :)

P#68304 2019-09-30 21:07 ( Edited 2019-09-30 22:07)

electricgryphon

Changes:
--Removed flicker effect completely
--Added a more refined, second pass ordered dither
--Added sprite font with upper and lowercase
--Added graphics with translucency--used for "greetings from" as well as to make the corners of the picture look worn

Notes:
There is code in place for a diffusion dither and for random dither as well.

Reload for a new card... still need to put in a user interface...

P#68545 2019-10-05 22:13

dw817