How I made a 3D GAME in Desmos Graphing Calculator

[Radian]

It comes with actual IDE (Visual Studio Code) support--- you can run the compiler, get syntax highlighting, view errors, format desmoscript files, and even run Desmos itself all within VSCode.

Setup instructions are in the README.

[arthurspohr]

I've heard people say "I feel like a caveman" when seeing very smart people explain stuff, but considering you're using something as "primitive" as a graphing calculator to make a 3D game, I feel like I'm a caveman watching another caveman use sticks and stones to make a jet engine, which is even more amazing. You're a wizard.

[bloxcarter]

This confirms it.
Doom could probably run on Desmos.

[sacrificialobama]

Okay so to summarize, this guy
a) decided to make a fun little plane game for an art contest
b) developed an entire language and translation layer to convert code in text format into MATHEMATICAL FORMULAS that a browser-based graphic calculator can interpret
c) created his own graphics and physics engines within said language
d) 3D modeled the entire game and wrote an original plugin to export multiple 3d files at the same time as well as translate those files into vertices that his language could read (and then translate into desmos)
e) implemented complex rendering systems such as lighting, backface culling, color, and position-based rendering occlusion
f) made a fun and compelling game that plays and runs well all while looking good
g) wrote, recorded, and edited an extremely well-produced 12 minute video on the entire process.

wow. just wow

[projected]

This just keeps getting more impressive bro. HE LITERALLY MADE A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE TO MAKE A GAME IN A GRAPHING CALCULATOR BRO.

[JayFolipurba]

This is such a weird feeling. After using 3D software for a while I know all this stuff instinctively but seeing the maths behind it is foreign to me. It's like visiting the factory where your favourite food is made and seeing the ingredients come together for the first time, whereas before you simply ate.

[nicetry]

I understood none of what you said in this video but the fact you made an entire coding language to make a 3D game in desmos is mindblowing

[FunMaker]

Awesome! Lispmos reminds me of SPWN language for geometry dash. It's nice to see people working on DSLs to accomplish these crazy challenges using tools that were totally not designed for it.

PS: you seriously need more exposure, hope the algorithm will bless you one day

[jojort]

This is so impressive you should be way more popular

[TheBetterGamer]

math is a programming language by nature
the fact that all this can be done in a graphing calculator comes at no surprise as programming inherently is based off of mathematical principles.
still
always cool to see
and your work is appreciated <3

[j-maffe]

This is mindblowing! If I may ask, what pushed you to put so much time (I'm guessing days to weeks) into this project?

[remyzk]

Back in high school I used to mess around with making my own 3d rendering thing in desmos, It's very cool to see that I'm both not the only one and also nowhere near the best at it

[krosskancelvlogs]

i like how as the video goes on you talk faster and faster and the music speeds up

[quinet]

You got me at "sorry this isn't opengl" lmao. If I had to listen to another youtuber explain projection matrix to me Ima lose my mind. I was like "finally someone that dont give a shit about z buffer"

[ahtenxevious]

Firstly I just want to say that this is a really impressive project, and props to you for making it, well done. Really it doesn't matter how good or bad the game is, because that's not the point, the point is trying and succeeding to do something that seems impossible.


Now that that's out of the way, I have to say that, as someone who completed the game, this game is absolute horseshit. Pitch we make constant, great. Yaw and roll, though? Those are both controlled by left and right and depends on the pitch of the plane. Alright, fine we don't need roll for most things anyways, and it doesn't really come up at all in the game just so long as we don't have any sections that feature much vertical movement... Level 6 is tough but fair, that vertical section at the start isn't too bad, and at this point I'm still trying to figure out which lines are fastest and cutting corners, not bad. Level 7 I should've quit. When you go nearly vertical and suddenly the controls you've relied on no longer work as yaw left suddenly turns into pitch left and you begin crashing into walls, the drop itself nearly killing you by forcing you to give plenty of leadup to the drop. The rest of the level is nothing in comparison. There's a part of me that wants to finish this game due to the admiration I have for being able to create such a thing in an online graphing calculator.
Then level 8 hits and you realize that you're no longer fighting the level, you're fighting the game mechanics themselves. Everything that didn't bother you before is now fighting you at every corner. Resetting requiring you to leave the dead-zone in the middle of the screen, which then requires you to recenter your mouse quickly due to the final drop requiring you to pitch down within maybe a half a second of resetting at the checkpoint. Then the drop itself revoking your yaw controls, meaning that you have to either roll and pitch to avoid obstacles or just trial and error find the correct lead-up so that you only need to change your pitch in order to make it through, the latter of which you eventually do. All that this leads you to, though, is a corkscrew, which maybe wouldn't be so bad if the controls didn't feel so inconsistent. You suddenly go from roll to yaw, which takes a shifting of your mentality on what the controls do. Sometimes you crash into the left wall because turning is so sensitive, sometimes you have the controls all the way to the left and still crash into the right wall. Maybe turning becomes more or less sensitive as you pitch up and down due to controls affecting yaw rather than roll? It relies on you being able to center yourself in this space so you can get the correct line to have enough turning to not crash into the right wall. Centering yourself in this dark, textureless cave is another thing entirely, though. Crashing into walls you didn't think were there due to not being able to tell what's a polygon 50 ft away or 5 ft away. Then once you *do* see the incoming polygon, being able to dodge it at 1 frame per second is another challenge entirely. These were all slight issues a few times in other levels, but this level amplifies every small annoyance this game has into a burning resentment. You hate this game and the game hates you too. The only thing that brought me to the finish is the thought of coming back to this video and posting a comment of my grievances.

Anyways, it's impressive that a flight simulator can be made in Desmos, and it's likely the worst flight simulator I've ever played. 7.7/10 fuck you.

[solidtoco]

Wow! This is trully impressive. You should be WAY more popular. Don't stop making videos!

[AlexTuduran]

You got me at "Desmos". This is absolutely insane. We'll done mate, we'll done.

[Xamarin]

Impressive! It runs pretty slowly on my 4790K w/ 1600hz ddr3 ram, but the fact it runs at all on Desmos is more than I would have expected.

[MichaelUrocyon]

I wasn't expecting what I got when I clicked on this, this is really impressive work!

I nearly choked on my drink at LISPmos, I have done some (very rudimentary) work in LISP and knew it was good for math, but it still came out of left field for me lol.

[AwesomeCadecraft]

While watching this, the whole editing style (specifically the text) felt familiar, then I realized--if I'm not mistaken--you're using the Blender video editor!
Can't believe I found someone else who uses it, it's severely underrated