Using Deno as my game engine - explodi
Key Takeaways
- The project, 'Microlandia,' is a pet project aiming to be a brutally honest city builder inspired by SimCity but focused on extreme detail and real-world sociological data.
- The initial version was built using Go, but the developer faced significant hurdles implementing advanced 3D graphics and complex data visualization UIs.
- The developer is porting the project to use Deno, leveraging ThreeJS for 3D rendering and React for the user interface.
- A key goal is to avoid the overhead and resource consumption of traditional game engines, contrasting with resource-heavy titles like Cities: Skylines.
- The ultimate purpose is to explore playing a city builder with variables reflecting real-world data, not necessarily to create a commercial or conventionally 'fun' game.
The article details the journey of developing 'Microlandia,' a city-building simulation intended to be far more detailed and sociologically accurate than its inspiration, the original SimCity. The developer's goal is to incorporate real-world data like healthcare costs and life expectancy, focusing on realism over commercial viability or simple fun. The initial implementation was done in Go, chosen for its simplicity and ability to produce a local executable, but the developer encountered significant frustration when trying to implement complex 3D rendering and extensive data visualization tools. After an internal debate, the developer opted to migrate the project to Deno, utilizing ThreeJS for the 3D city view and React for the necessary complex user interface components, aiming for an efficient experience that avoids the heavy resource demands of engines like Unity used in games such as Cities: Skylines.
