Hacker News·34wImproved Map Generation
Firaxis Games replaced their predictable fractal noise map generation system with a new Voronoi diagram-based approach for Civilization VII. The new technique creates more natural, varied maps by simulating tectonic plates and growing landmasses using configurable rules, while maintaining gameplay balance. Two new map types were introduced: Continents and Islands, and Pangea and Islands, with the system designed for future expansion and modding support.
Chrome Developers·36wWhat's New in WebGPU (Chrome 140)
Chrome 140 introduces several WebGPU improvements including adapter consumption after device requests, texture shorthand usage for better ergonomics, 1D texture sampling support in vertex shaders, deprecation of bgra8unorm read-only storage textures, removal of GPUAdapter isFallbackAdapter attribute, and various Dawn backend optimizations for better performance on mobile GPUs.
Chrome Developers·34wWhat's New in WebGPU (Chrome 141)
Chrome 141 introduces major WebGPU improvements including completion of the Tint IR project that delivers up to 7x performance gains in shader compilation, integer range analysis for more efficient bounds checking, SPIR-V 1.4 support for Vulkan backend, and stabilization of the webgpu.h header with prebuilt Dawn binaries now available on GitHub Actions.
iO tech_hub·38wCreative Coding With Perlin Noise
Perlin noise transforms harsh randomness into smooth, natural-looking patterns for creative coding projects. Unlike Math.random(), it generates gradual transitions between values, making it perfect for creating organic movement in particles, terrain generation, and visual effects. The technique involves calculating noise values based on position coordinates and applying them to properties like movement, color, or opacity. Examples include recreating the Joy Division album cover, simulating flying insects with individual movement paths, creating fire spark effects with decay and depth, and building flow fields where particles follow calculated directional forces across a grid.