Wolfenstein 3D? in 1K of JavaScript

[Mr. Analog]

Rather impressive technical feat:

WOLF1K features a 32?32 map ( a 1024 cells grid ) with textured walls colored by orientation ( North, South, East, West ), fog, 3 transparent bitmap graphics in 8?8, 15 rainbow characters steering smoothly across the map, collision detection, probably the most crazy optimization tricks I ever wrote.

In order to get this into 1K some crazy things had to be done:

WOLF1K works exactly like the original Wolfenstein 3D and Wolf 5k. It is using the raycasting technique. The world is built from a uniform grid of walls and corridors. In order to draw the world, a single ray is traced for every column of screen pixels and a vertical slice of wall texture is selected, scaled and colored according to where in the world the ray hits a wall and how far it travels before doing so.

The sprites and graphics are stored in a small space using a clever trick:

The world of WOLF1K is a regular grid of 32?32 cells. Obviously storing these 1024 cells in one byte or one bit each is not feasible. It would use the 1024 bytes or 128 bytes if stored as bits. It actually is the result of a binary operation applied to the ASCII codes of the source code of WOLF1K plus a mural on each edge of the world.

http://ajaxian.com/archives/wolfenstein-3d-in-1k-of-javascript

[Darren Dirt]

http://js1k.com/home


the idea brings back fond memories of me grinding out version 27.9.3 of Script Squisher for the 5k contest... I remember being amazed at some of the creative stuff people came up with during that contest, a few actually-fun puzzle games from what I remember.

http://www.the5k.org/ (hey look now it's a "10k" contest! http://10k.aneventapart.com/ and some pretty impressive entries, for example http://10k.aneventapart.com/Entry/416 )


update: omg it's amazing enough to scrunch cool code into 10k or 5k or 1k... but how about putting a GAME into a FavIcon??? http://www.p01.org/releases/DEFENDER_of_the_favicon/

[Darren Dirt]

HOLY @%&# I suck at Chess.

http://js1k.com/demo/750

I couldn't even beat the damn AI. Same goes for other people: http://malevolent.com/weblog/archive/2010/09/07/1k-chess-showdown/

[Mr. Analog]

Wow! Those are all pretty amazing!!

[Thorin]

Nice games.

Chess .. http://js1k.com/demo/750

I beat it by following a simple points strategy (give up lower-point pieces to take higher point pieces).  Also, it wouldn't let me castle.  Pretty cool for 1k of code, though!

[Darren Dirt]

Nice games.

Chess .. http://js1k.com/demo/750

I beat it by following a simple points strategy (give up lower-point pieces to take higher point pieces).  Also, it wouldn't let me castle.  Pretty cool for 1k of code, though!

no castling or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_passant .


I suck at Chess because I'm one of those guys willing to go "bishop-for-bishop" or even "rook-for-knight"* early on, so I have less pieces to think about... but too often I miss where opponent has 2 different ways of hitting me and I dodge one of them, once I'm down a single power piece I've got no patience to plan my recovery

I glanced at the code, I have NO idea how it does any kind of "strategy", it seems to focus on pawn advancing, rarely moves other pieces unless I've been stupid enough to leave myself open for an unbalanced sacrifice... but I guess it's pawn placement fortifies the other pieces, that's what kept killing me (I tried 3 games, all under 10 minutes, but still, I tried THREE times )



*I've always been wrong about "points", over-valuing knight and under-valueing rook, oops: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_piece_relative_value

[Darren Dirt]

I beat it by following a simple points strategy (give up lower-point pieces to take higher point pieces).

lol DAMMIT!

image URL says it all...
http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/4969/omgsrslyisosuckatchess.png

[Thorin]

Uhh...  I guess we just remember where the pieces are?

[Mr. Analog]

Uhh...  I guess we just remember where the pieces are?

Finally someone has programmed mental chess!

[Thorin]

Uhh...  I guess we just remember where the pieces are?

Finally someone has programmed mental chess!

I used to be good at mental chess but after 40 moves I lost track of where his bishop was and lost my queen

[Darren Dirt]

Uhh...  I guess we just remember where the pieces are?

Your computer's fonts are doing it wrong.

edit: I mean your BROWSER'S fonts. Cuz I just tried at home, Chrome and FF = fine, IE = not so much (i.e. same result as your Difficult Chess screenshot). :shrugs:

[Thorin]

I first saw it in Chrome, then checked it in Firefox and IE.  I screenshotted in case it was fixed later.  Later, it was indeed back to normal.  I do realize that sometimes things are different in different browsers, and I do know to test in multiple browsers. 

[Darren Dirt]

I first saw it in Chrome, then checked it in Firefox and IE.  I screenshotted in case it was fixed later.  Later, it was indeed back to normal. 

weird.