Problem: Vibrant visuals are demanding, causing lag on low-end devices.
Idea: Calculate lighting and shadows only at block vertices and interpolate the rest.
Expected result: FPS could double or triple on weaker devices.
Goal: Bring this idea to Mojang to make the game beautiful and lightweight.
Vibrant visuals look great but are heavy, especially on mobile. One way to make them lighter is to use interpolation to reduce the number of shadow pixels the game needs to compute.
Instead of projecting hundreds of shadow pixels per block, the game could calculate lighting only at the corners or edges of blocks and the geometric shapes that make up entities, filling the rest with interpolation.
For example, a block that currently requires over 200 shadow pixels could be handled with just 8 (with the rest generated by interpolation), one at each vertex. This would make the system much more efficient, helping low-end players get better performance.
Simple partial blocks like stairs, doors, and slabs could use more vertices to generate interpolated shadows. Blocks with visual gaps like leaves would need special treatment to shadow only solid visible parts.
The system could also apply to translucent and colored blocks like stained glass, adjusting opacity and shadow color to simulate light passing through.
Distant blocks could have simpler shadows, while nearby ones would use this detailed system. I believe this would help many people enjoy vibrant visuals without lag.
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