The use of vector graphics instead of 3d rendering or bitmap video seems reminiscent of the techniques which allowed Another World to achieve the fidelity it did on the consoles of that era: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7GVubkh4TE" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7GVubkh4TE</a><p>Tech overview: <a href="http://fabiensanglard.net/anotherWorld_code_review/" rel="nofollow">http://fabiensanglard.net/anotherWorld_code_review/</a>
The imprecise overruns because you'll draw over it is a clever optimization.<p>It's interesting to compare and contrast these techniques from other excellent sources, like <i>Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book, Special Edition</i> [1].<p>Thought my technical knowledge topped out somewhere in the middle of the 'Quickly Drawing Tiles' section, the prose and algorithmic detail is lovely, the rationales and code is welcome, and the visualization is excellent.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.jagregory.com/abrash-black-book/#chapter-40-of-songs-taxes-and-the-simplicity-of-complex-polygons" rel="nofollow">http://www.jagregory.com/abrash-black-book/#chapter-40-of-so...</a>
You want to go one further... according to this interview[1], Yuji Naka actually wrote a 3D graphics engine for the Master System! :) It was very low resolution, of course, but...<p>[1] <a href="http://segaretro.org/Interview:_Mark_Cerny_(2006-12-05)_by_Sega-16" rel="nofollow">http://segaretro.org/Interview:_Mark_Cerny_(2006-12-05)_by_S...</a>
Nice article. I got a bit lost at the section explaining the left-to-right technique, and wanted to ask about that here, but now I see there's pseudocode and even illustration of the technique. Great that you've gone through the effort to add those, they are really useful to clarify and take away any misconceptions.