Minecraft is the best-selling online game of all time and there are lots of causes for that success, reminiscent of creativity-focused gameplay, frequent updates with new content material, and social options. However one of many greatest causes for the sport’s reputation is its versatility. There are a number of variations of the sport and the modest processing necessities make it attainable to run on nearly any trendy {hardware}. Besides, the concept of working Minecraft on a microcontroller is fairly farfetched. That’s why we’re intrigued by Dylan Brophy’s quest to make that occur together with his Arduino Minecraft venture.
Earlier than we go any additional, we now have to make it clear that this isn’t truly Minecraft, however reasonably a simplified clone optimized for the {hardware}. As light-weight as Minecraft is, microcontrollers merely don’t have the RAM or graphics {hardware} (GPU and video RAM) needed to drag that off at something near a usable decision or framerate.
Brophy wants as a lot assist as he can get, so he selected a Teensy 4.1 improvement board for this venture. That has a particularly highly effective (by microcontroller requirements) NXP i.MX RT1060 MCU with a 600MHz Arm Cortex-M7 and 1024kB of SRAM. Brophy is programming the Teensy 4.1 throughout the Arduino IDE.
It is a very bold venture that’s far more tough than programming a Minecraft clone to run on a PC and Brophy’s posts do get into the weeds a bit, however they need to curiosity the coders. For instance, Brophy needed to provide you with a technique to produce randomized top maps for producing the worlds.
Minecraft makes use of Perlin noise and that works effectively, however Brophy observed that the ensuing map doesn’t actually adhere to real-world geological norms. As an illustration, it’d produce an ocean stuffed with a comparatively uniform distribution of small islands — one thing we by no means see in actual life. Brophy’s resolution was to introduce simulated plate tectonics and fault strains, leading to landscapes that really feel extra pure.
Rendering, nevertheless, is proving to be a much bigger problem. Brophy has efficiently rendered easy terrain: simply dust and grass at a number of elevations. However that is simply step one of many and it isn’t but clear if Brophy’s objective is even attainable with the restricted assets of a microcontroller.
When you’re as as we’re in seeing the place this goes, you’ll want to observe Brophy’s Arduino Minecraft venture for updates.