Stories with Tag Pixel Art

• MS Paint IDE

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  Posted: 2025-03-05 11:52:28

  Verbose tl;dr

  MS Paint IDE leverages the familiar simplicity of Microsoft Paint to create a surprisingly functional code editor and execution environment. Users write code directly onto the canvas using the text tool, which is then parsed and executed. The output, whether text or graphical, is displayed within the Paint window itself. While limited by Paint's capabilities, it supports a range of programming features including variables, loops, and conditional statements, primarily through a custom scripting language tailored for this unique environment. This project demonstrates the surprising versatility of MS Paint and offers a playful, unconventional approach to coding.

  The website "MS Paint IDE," accessible at the domain ms-paint-i.de, presents a remarkably unconventional and humorous approach to integrated development environments (IDEs), utilizing the familiar Microsoft Paint application as its core. This project ingeniously leverages the simplicity and readily available nature of MS Paint to create a functional, albeit highly impractical, coding environment. The user interacts with MS Paint by drawing specific shapes and utilizing color codes within the canvas, which the "IDE" then interprets as code. This painted "code" is then translated into legitimate programming language syntax, currently supporting JavaScript execution.

  The webpage details the project's functionality, showcasing how different geometric shapes represent distinct programming constructs. Circles, for instance, symbolize variables, with their size potentially correlating to the variable's value. Lines connecting these shapes illustrate relationships and data flow, mimicking the connections made in traditional visual programming languages. Colors assigned to the shapes dictate data types or specific operations, creating a visual syntax based on the user's color choices within MS Paint.

  Furthermore, the "MS Paint IDE" facilitates code execution directly from within the MS Paint environment. Once the user "draws" their program within MS Paint, the "IDE" captures the canvas content, analyzes the arrangement and coloring of the shapes, and translates this visual representation into executable JavaScript code. This JavaScript code is then run, and the resulting output is displayed, demonstrating the completion of a full development cycle—coding, compilation/interpretation, and execution—all facilitated through the unlikely medium of a simple drawing application. While demonstrably functional, the project's focus appears to be more on the novelty and humor of coding within MS Paint, rather than providing a genuinely efficient or practical development platform. The website serves as a playful exploration of the boundaries of what constitutes a development environment, challenging conventional notions of coding practices.

  • MS Paint
  • IDE
  • Integrated Development Environment
  • Code Editor
  • Software Development
  • programming
  • visual programming
  • Graphics Editor
  • Image Manipulation
  • web application
  • javascript
  • HTML5
  • Creative Coding
  • digital art
  • Pixel Art

  Summary of Comments ( 10 )
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43265431

  Verbose tl;dr

  Hacker News users were generally impressed with the MS Paint IDE, praising its creativity and clever execution. Some found its impracticality charming, while others saw potential for educational uses or as a unique challenge for code golfing. A few commenters pointed out the project's limitations, especially regarding debugging and more complex code, but the overall sentiment was positive, appreciating the project as a fun and unconventional exploration of coding environments. One commenter even suggested it could be expanded with OCR to make it a "real" IDE, highlighting the project's potential for further development and the community's interest in seeing where it could go. Several users reminisced about past simpler times in computing, with MS Paint being a nostalgic touchstone.

  The Hacker News post titled "MS Paint IDE" sparked a lively discussion with 29 comments exploring the novelty and potential practicality of using MS Paint as an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Several commenters appreciated the project primarily for its humor and creativity, acknowledging the absurdity of using a drawing program for coding. One commenter joked about the possibility of future "MS Paint Compiler Explorer" and "MS Paint powered CI/CD," highlighting the whimsical nature of the project.

  A recurring theme was the unexpected nostalgia and fondness for MS Paint. Some users reminisced about their early experiences with the simple drawing tool, and the project resonated with them on a sentimental level. One commenter even shared a personal anecdote about using MS Paint to create "programs" as a child, drawing buttons and interface elements, demonstrating the enduring appeal of MS Paint for creative expression, even in unconventional ways.

  Beyond the humor and nostalgia, some commenters delved into the technical aspects of the "MS Paint IDE." They discussed the limitations of using such a tool for serious software development, pointing out the lack of features essential for coding, such as syntax highlighting, code completion, and debugging tools. However, others saw potential in exploring alternative ways of interacting with code, with one commenter suggesting it could be a fun educational tool for children or a unique way to visualize algorithms.

  The discussion also touched upon the broader implications of using unconventional tools for coding. One commenter mentioned esoteric programming languages and the concept of "turing tarpits," where theoretically any system, even a simple one like MS Paint, could be used for computation, albeit with significant practical limitations.

  A few commenters expressed skepticism about the project's usefulness, viewing it primarily as a novelty rather than a serious coding tool. However, even the skeptical comments acknowledged the creativity and ingenuity behind the project.

  Overall, the comments on Hacker News reflected a mixture of amusement, nostalgia, and genuine curiosity about the "MS Paint IDE." While most recognized its limitations as a practical development tool, they appreciated the project's creativity and potential for inspiring unconventional approaches to coding and sparking discussions about the nature of computation itself.

• Surface-Stable Fractal Dither on Playdate

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  Posted: 2025-02-18 03:04:19

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  Aras Pranckevičius details a technique for creating surface-stable fractal dithering on the Playdate handheld console. The core idea is to generate dithering patterns not in screen space, but in a "surface" space that's independent of the rendered object's movement or animation. This surface space is then sampled in screen space, allowing the dither pattern to remain consistent relative to the object's surface, avoiding distracting "swimming" artifacts that occur with traditional screen-space dithering. The implementation uses a precomputed 3D noise texture as the basis for the fractal pattern and leverages the Playdate's CPU for the calculations, achieving a visually pleasing and performant dithering solution for the device's limited display.

  A blog post by Aras Pranckevičius, titled "Surface-Stable Fractal Dither on Playdate," delves into the intricacies of implementing a visually appealing and performant dithering technique on the Playdate handheld gaming console. The author's primary motivation stems from the Playdate's unique 1-bit display, which only renders black or white pixels, thus requiring dithering to simulate shades of gray. Conventional ordered dithering patterns, while effective, can introduce noticeable shimmering or swimming artifacts, especially when elements move on the screen. This is because the dithering pattern remains fixed in screen space, leading to different pixel representations of the same object as it traverses the display.

  To address this issue, the author explores surface-stable dithering, also known as object-stable or texture-stable dithering. This technique aims to attach the dithering pattern to the object being drawn, rather than the screen itself. As a result, the dithering pattern moves along with the object, mitigating the shimmering artifacts often associated with screen-space dithering. The blog post explains that achieving surface-stable dithering typically involves generating a spatially varying pseudorandom value, which is then used to threshold the grayscale image being dithered. The author initially investigates using a simple Bayer matrix for this purpose, which proves computationally inexpensive. However, Bayer matrices exhibit noticeable regularity in their patterns, which can be visually distracting.

  The author then transitions to utilizing a fractal Brownian motion (fBm) approach to generate the pseudorandom values needed for dithering. This technique, based on the concept of summing scaled and offset copies of a base noise function, produces a more visually pleasing and less regular dithering pattern compared to the Bayer matrix. The post details how fBm can be efficiently computed using a tileable noise function and bitwise operations, making it suitable for the resource-constrained environment of the Playdate. Furthermore, the author leverages the Playdate's SDK's optimized graphics.fillPattern function, which allows for fast drawing of repeating patterns, to implement the fBm dithering. This results in a significant performance improvement over a naive pixel-by-pixel drawing approach. The author also discusses a small optimization related to precalculating and storing certain fBm values to further reduce computational overhead.

  Ultimately, the blog post showcases a successful implementation of surface-stable fractal dithering on the Playdate, demonstrating a visually superior and performant solution for rendering grayscale images on the handheld's 1-bit display. The author's approach effectively addresses the shortcomings of traditional ordered dithering by tying the dithering pattern to the object being drawn, thereby minimizing unwanted shimmering and enhancing the overall visual experience.

  • Playdate
  • dithering
  • graphics
  • fractal
  • Game Development
  • rendering
  • Indie Games
  • Pixel Art
  • algorithms
  • Surface Stability

  Summary of Comments ( 20 )
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43085665

  Verbose tl;dr

  HN commenters generally praised the visual appeal and technical cleverness of the dithering technique. Several appreciated the detailed explanation and clear diagrams in the blog post, making it easy to understand the algorithm. Some discussed potential applications beyond the Playdate, including shaders and other limited-palette situations. One commenter pointed out a potential similarity to Bayer ordered dithering at higher resolutions, suggesting it might be a rediscovery of a known technique. Another questioned the "surface stability" claim, arguing that the pattern still shifts with movement. A few users shared links to related resources on dithering and fractal patterns.

  The Hacker News post titled "Surface-Stable Fractal Dither on Playdate" generated several interesting comments discussing the technique and its applications.

  Several commenters praised the visual appeal and technical cleverness of the dithering method. One commenter highlighted the smoothness of the animation, particularly when compared to traditional ordered dithering techniques that can produce noticeable shimmering. They expressed admiration for how the technique retains detail while minimizing temporal artifacts. Another user focused on the efficiency of the algorithm, noting that its computational simplicity makes it well-suited for resource-constrained devices like the Playdate. This commenter speculated on the possibilities of using similar techniques in other contexts where processing power is limited.

  The discussion also touched upon the broader implications of the technique. One commenter pondered the potential for using fractal dithering in VR applications to mitigate aliasing issues or improve the perceived resolution of textures. Another user discussed the historical context of dithering techniques, mentioning their importance in the early days of computer graphics when color palettes were limited. They appreciated the way this new technique built upon those foundational ideas.

  Some commenters delved into the technical details of the algorithm. One user inquired about the specific implementation on the Playdate's hardware and whether the author leveraged any unique features of the platform. Another commenter discussed the mathematical properties of fractals and how they contribute to the stability and visual quality of the dithering pattern. This comment mentioned the concept of self-similarity and how it helps prevent flickering.

  Finally, several commenters expressed interest in experimenting with the technique themselves, with some requesting code examples or further details on the implementation. One commenter even suggested potential improvements to the algorithm, proposing the use of different fractal patterns or exploring alternative methods for generating the dithering matrix.

• The Most Mario Colors

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  Posted: 2025-01-21 09:10:13

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  The blog post "The Most Mario Colors" analyzes the color palettes of various Super Mario games across different consoles. It identifies the most frequently used colors in each game and highlights the evolution of Mario's visual style over time. The author extracts pixel data from sprites and backgrounds, processing them to determine the dominant colors. The analysis reveals trends like the shift from brighter, more saturated colors in earlier games to slightly darker, more muted tones in later titles. It also demonstrates the consistent use of specific colors, particularly variations of red, brown, and blue, across multiple games, showcasing the iconic color palette associated with the Mario franchise.

  Within the vibrant, pixelated world of Nintendo's flagship franchise, Super Mario Bros., a surprisingly limited yet iconic color palette has persisted throughout its numerous iterations. The blog post, "The Most Mario Colors," embarks on a detailed quantitative exploration of this chromatic landscape, specifically focusing on the North American releases of Super Mario Bros. (1985), Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990), and Super Mario World (1991) for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, respectively. The author meticulously analyzes the color composition of each game, employing a Python script to extract color data from individual screenshots meticulously captured at consistent intervals. This systematic approach ensures a comprehensive representation of the color distribution throughout each game's visual presentation.

  The methodology involves converting the raw color data from RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values to the Lab color space, a format designed to more accurately reflect human color perception. This conversion facilitates a more nuanced comparison of colors, acknowledging the subtleties of shade and hue that might be lost in a purely numerical RGB comparison. The analysis then utilizes k-means clustering, a machine learning technique, to group similar colors together. This process allows the identification of dominant color clusters, revealing the core hues that define the visual identity of each game. The optimal number of clusters for each game is determined through an iterative process, evaluating the within-cluster sum of squares to achieve the most representative grouping.

  The results of this rigorous analysis reveal fascinating insights into the evolution of the Super Mario color palette. Super Mario Bros., constrained by the NES hardware limitations, showcases a more restricted palette dominated by browns, blues, and greens, reflecting the earthen tones of the game's underground and overworld environments. Super Mario Bros. 3, while still adhering to the NES's technical limitations, demonstrates a greater diversity of colors, incorporating more vibrant hues, possibly indicative of the game's increased visual complexity and more varied level design. Super Mario World, benefiting from the enhanced capabilities of the SNES, boasts the most expansive and diverse color palette of the three games analyzed. This is manifested in the richer, more saturated colors, particularly in the vibrant greens, blues, and reds that characterize Dinosaur Land's diverse environments. The author further explores the prevalence of specific color families within each game, quantifying the dominance of greens in particular, thereby solidifying the association of verdant hues with the Super Mario universe. The blog post concludes by offering the extracted color palettes as downloadable assets, enabling readers to utilize these iconic color schemes in their own creative endeavors.

  • Mario
  • Colors
  • Color Palettes
  • Nintendo
  • Retro Gaming
  • Video Games
  • Pixel Art
  • Game Design
  • Super Mario
  • 8-bit
  • 16-bit
  • Sprites

  Summary of Comments ( 28 )
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42777948

  Verbose tl;dr

  Several Hacker News commenters discussed the methodology used in the original blog post, pointing out potential flaws like the exclusion of certain games and the subjective nature of color selection, especially with sprite limitations. Some users debated the specific colors chosen, offering alternative palettes or highlighting iconic colors missing from the analysis. Others appreciated the nostalgic aspect and the technical breakdown of color palettes across different Mario games, while some shared related resources and personal experiences with retro game color limitations. The overall sentiment leaned towards finding the blog post interesting, though not scientifically rigorous. A few commenters also questioned the practicality of such an analysis.

  The Hacker News post titled "The Most Mario Colors" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42777948) has a modest number of comments, sparking a brief discussion around the methodology and conclusions of the linked blog post. While not a highly active thread, several commenters raise interesting points.

  One of the most compelling comments points out a potential flaw in the blog post's methodology: it relies solely on screenshots, which might not accurately represent the true colors used in the game due to color space conversions and the limitations of display technology at the time. The commenter suggests that examining the actual game's ROM data would provide a more accurate representation of the color palette. This raises a valuable point about the difference between the intended colors and how they are ultimately displayed, and how this could affect the analysis.

  Another commenter questions the definition of "most used colors" and suggests alternative approaches to analyzing color usage. They propose considering the surface area covered by each color, rather than just the number of pixels, to account for the varying sizes of sprites and background elements. This offers a different perspective on how to quantify color prominence and highlights the potential biases inherent in different methods.

  A further comment discusses the limited color palettes available to older games due to hardware constraints and how this influenced the artistic choices made by developers. This adds context to the discussion and connects the analysis to the broader history of video game graphics.

  There's also a brief exchange about the specific colors used in different Mario games and how they contribute to the overall aesthetic. This touches upon the subjective nature of color perception and how individual responses to color can shape the experience of playing a game.

  Finally, one commenter expresses appreciation for the blog post's visual presentation and the interesting insights it provides. This highlights the overall positive reception of the analysis despite the methodological concerns raised by other comments.

  Overall, the comments on the Hacker News post offer valuable critiques and alternative perspectives on the blog post's analysis, raising important questions about methodology and interpretation while also appreciating the effort and insights provided. They demonstrate the engaged and thoughtful nature of the Hacker News community in dissecting and discussing technical topics.