MicroState – JavaScript City Builder
I’ve been working on MicroState, a city builder prototype written entirely in vanilla JavaScript using the HTML5 2D Canvas API. My goal was to see how far I could get with a 2.5D isometric style simulation with vanilla JavaScript built very simply and drawn entirely with procedural generation for maps, tiles, roads, trees, buildings, etc. The most interesting element is probably the terrain model, which allows for fairly arbitrary terrain. Although some of the generated graphics like trees are cached as sprites, buildings- which are much more intensive to draw - are not cached yet, and many…
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I’ve been working on MicroState, a city builder prototype written entirely in vanilla JavaScript using the HTML5 2D Canvas API. My goal was to see how far I could get with a 2.5D isometric style simulation with vanilla JavaScript built very simply and drawn entirely with procedural generation for maps, tiles, roads, trees, buildings, etc. The most interesting element is probably the terrain model, which allows for fairly arbitrary terrain. Although some of the generated graphics like trees are cached as sprites, buildings- which are much more intensive to draw - are not cached yet, and many will probably cause your CPU fan to go brrr. It's not quite a game yet, though it is "playable" and I thought folks might find it fun to try and have suggestions for features and gameplay they'd like to see, both in single player and multiplayer. I'll be publishing the source on GitHub soon so it's easier to submit and track features and defects (and to clone and fork). Happy to answer any questions!
Does the same job
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- TGTerrainVer – Generate Worms-Style Cartoon Terrain in JavaScript2018 · juliango202.com · ▲198

- ABActionStreetMap: Build a gaming environment of your own city in Unity3d2014 · actionstreetmap.github.io · ▲60

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