Probably Not. Introduction Both the HLSL and GLSL shading languages support mechanisms for assigning explicit, programmer-selected locations to certain shader parameters. In HLSL, this is done with the regsiter keyword: // texture/buffer/resource: Texture2D someTexture : register(t0); // sampler state: SamplerState … Continue reading →| Tangent Vector
The source code for the Spark shading language is now hosted on GitHub, under a commercial-friendly open-source license: github.com/spark-shading-language/spark There is also a binary/source package available for download, and for those who just want more details on the Spark language … Continue reading →| Tangent Vector
Last time, we learned the basics of the Game Boy hardware, and tried a simple strategy for rendering games with high-res graphics. Sometimes this simple approach worked well: but other times it didn’t work at all: In this part we’ll … Continue reading →| Tangent Vector
Many emulators for 3D consoles support rendering games at higher resolutions than supported by the original hardware. Some emulators for older 3D consoles even support replacing the texture maps used in games with higher-resolution versions. Emulators for 2D consoles, such … Continue reading →| Tangent Vector
When I find that my feelings towards a game are ambiguous, I like to look at its design decisions (whether gameplay, technology, art direction, or narrative) and categorize them into “what worked” and “what didn’t work.” In the case of … Continue reading →| Tangent Vector
When speaking or writing about the entertainment industry’s current gimmick du jour, please refer to it correctly as “stereoscopic 3D” or “stereo 3D.” If there is no chance of confusion with stereo audio (and honestly, how often do we talk … Continue reading →| Tangent Vector
It should no longer be surprising when a new Final Fantasy game leads to violent disagreement among fans of the series. The characteristic marriage of over-the-top production values and highly experimental game design remains a winning formula in spite of … Continue reading →| Tangent Vector
The recent slew of changes that Apple has made to the secret iDevice developer agreement has finally pushed me to write up these thoughts, which have been nagging at me for a while now. In the new world of computing, … Continue reading →| Tangent Vector
I’m always a little confused when people talk about “realism” in games. Maybe it started with Old Man Murray’s famous screed about the medium’s overreliance on crates.…| Tangent Vector
Most people who do serious GPU work understand that shaders and other GPU programs are executed in a SIMD or “SIMT” fashion using “warps” or “wavefronts” that gr…| Tangent Vector