Red Blob Games
LightNews LightNews
redblobgames.com
Red Blob Games
@redblobgames.com
2.1K followers 100 following 560 posts
Hi! I'm Amit Patel. I explain algorithms and math with interactive web pages (incl. pathfinding, hexagons, procgen maps, voronoi). Wrote Solar Realms Elite; helped w/Barren Realms Elite and Realm of the Mad God. https://www.redblobgames.com/
Posts Replies Media Videos
redblobgames.com
New blog post: www.redblobgames.com/blog/2026-09...

I was looking at assigning "a" vs "an" articles for English nouns (for procgen purposes), and fell into a rabbit hole …
Diagram showing the first two letters of English words, and whether that word would get the "a" or "an" article in front of it
September 17, 2026 at 7:09 PM
redblobgames.com
I am *loving* this use of LLMs. For my current project I'm writing all the code myself, but I have llm-buddy reading my code as I type, giving me feedback. And … it's caught a lot of bugs and style issues.

It's telling me things I would've never thought of asking an LLM about.
andrewhyatt.bsky.social Andrew Hyatt @andrewhyatt.bsky.social · Jul 24
I just posted a video introducing llm-buddy, with a demo showing how it detects issues in whatever you are writing in #emacs and how it can (optionally) just fix the issues that are too insignificant to mention.
September 14, 2026 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by Red Blob Games
bleuje.com
A little “Brick Territories” experiment.
→ bleuje.com/js_sketches/...
September 1, 2026 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Red Blob Games
shrikhalpada.dev
My latest interactive explainer all about the technology behind record players is done!

perthirtysix.com/how-the-heck...
August 27, 2026 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Red Blob Games
pinakographos.bsky.social
Rediscovered while excavating my archives. Three vignettes show a bit of how I think about geometric relationships in #map labeling.

(In case the embedded video gets compressed beyond recognition, it's also on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQws...)
August 19, 2026 at 3:35 AM
redblobgames.com
Busy regreening the desert in this simulation
August 19, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Reposted by Red Blob Games
raphlinus.bsky.social
I just posted a blog post on my hyperbezier curve: linebender.org/blog/hyperbe...

I've actually been working on this for years, and only recently figured out a solution to the parameter mapping problem. I think this curve is potentially better than cubic Béziers for 2D vector graphic design.
A plot of two roughly S-shaped curves. In gray is a cubic Bézier, and the Bézier control points are shown. In blue is an example of the hyperbezier, with roughly similar shape but much smoother curvature variation. There is also a "curvature comb" in green.
August 9, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Reposted by Red Blob Games
samwho.dev
This might be the most beautiful thing I've read in my life. What a privilege to be alive in 2026.

ordinaryabundance.com
Ordinary Abundance
A walk through a modern apartment, through the eyes of the people for whom everything in it was new.
ordinaryabundance.com
August 13, 2026 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Red Blob Games
alexwarth.bsky.social
We put a program's entire heap inside an Automerge document. Every object is persistent and shared: you and I can live in the same running program — and change it while it runs.

New Livelymerge lab note, with Dan Ingalls and @pvh.ca:
www.inkandswitch.com/livelymerge/...
August 7, 2026 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Red Blob Games
b0rk-reruns.jvns.ca
unix domain sockets

permalink: https://wizardzines.com/comics/unix-domain-sockets/

from our zine Bite Size Linux!: https://wizardzines.com/zines/bite-size-linux/
### unix domain sockets are files ``` $ file mysock.sock socket ``` the file's permissions determine who can send data to the socket. ### they let 2 programs on the same computer communicate Docker uses Unix domain sockets, for example! process: GET/container (HTTP request) Docker: Here you go! ### There are 2 kind of unix domain sockets - `stream`: Like TCP! Lets you send a continuous stream of bytes - `datagram`: Like UDP! Let you send discrete chunks of data ### advantage 1 Lets you use file permission to restrict access to HTTP/database services! `chmod 600 secret.sock` This is why Docker uses a unix domain socket. (lock icon) evil process: run evil container Linux, nonplussed: permission denied ### advantage 2 UDP sockets aren't always reliable (even on the same compute). unix domain datagram sockets ARE reliable! And they won't reorder packets! Process: I can send data and I KNOW it'll arrive ### advantage 3 You can send a file descriptor over a unix domain soc
August 2, 2026 at 7:33 PM
redblobgames.com
I added some color and shape options to my procedural face generator www.redblobgames.com/x/1845-face-...
Screenshot of a procedural face generator tool I made, where you can control the mouth shape, face shape, and colors
August 2, 2026 at 8:03 PM
redblobgames.com
Love this project and writeup! A color space to cover skin colors. toneyalexander.github.io/inclusive-co... (can also be useful for #procgen)
What Colors Are We? Constructing A Color Space For Skin Tones
Simple equations and a color picker to inclusively select simplified skin tones in a custom color space for digital art or game development.
toneyalexander.github.io
August 2, 2026 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Red Blob Games
b0rk-reruns.jvns.ca
anatomy of a HTTP response

permalink: https://wizardzines.com/comics/anatomy-http-response/

from our zine HTTP: Learn your browser's language!: https://wizardzines.com/zines/http/
### HTTP responses have: - a status code (200 OK! 404 not found!) - headers - a body (HTML, an image, JSON, etc) ### Here's the HTTP response from `examplecat.com/cat.txt`: ``` HTTP/1.1 200 OK status Accept-Ranges: bytes Cache-Control: public, max-age=0 Content-Length: 33 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2019 01:57:35 GMT Etag: "ac5affa59f554a1440043537ae973790-ssl" Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000 Age: 0 Server: Netlify [ASCII image of a cat, labelled "cat!" with a smiley face] ``` The first line, `HTTP/1.1 200 OK` is the status code. "200" is the status. The lines from `Accept-Ranges` to `Server` are the headers. The cat picture is the body. ### There are a few kinds of response headers: - when the resource was sent/modified: ``` Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2019 01:57:35 GMT Last-Modified: 3 Feb 2017 13:00:00 GMT ``` - about the response body: ``` Content-Language: en-US Content-Length: 33 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Encoding: g
July 29, 2026 at 7:41 PM
redblobgames.com
I've been trying to write this page since … 2015! Each time I try, get frustrated, quit, start over. But this time I think I might have gotten the page to a good state … www.redblobgames.com/pathfinding/...
Red Blob Games: Improving Heuristics
www.redblobgames.com
July 28, 2026 at 3:33 AM
redblobgames.com
At 2019's Roguelike Celebration conference @apepers.bsky.social gave a talk about different types of procedural generation practitioners and how they are similar to Dungeons & Dragons magic classes www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYMd...
Alexei Pepers - A Guide to Proc Gen Practitioners
YouTube video by Roguelike Celebration
www.youtube.com
July 25, 2026 at 3:59 PM
redblobgames.com
The temperature setting on LLMs makes me think of mind-altering substances:

low: coffee
medium: beer
high: lsd

Related: amitp.blogspot.com/2022/05/beer...
Beer mode and coffee mode
Over the years I've mentioned to people that I work in two modes: Beer Mode 🍺 I'm relaxed and make connections between many differe...
amitp.blogspot.com
July 14, 2026 at 3:24 PM
redblobgames.com
This video covers so many of my interests: noise, fractals, hexagons, spherical geometry, map generation, plate tectonics www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xL0...
Maps: Fractals, Tectonics and the Fourth Dimension
YouTube video by Fractal Philosophy
www.youtube.com
July 13, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Red Blob Games
disconcision.com
all will become fidgetable
July 11, 2026 at 7:35 PM
redblobgames.com
For fans of procedurally generated terrain, watch this video erosiv.studio/publications... h/t @jazztap.bsky.social
erosiv - Stochastic Geomorphological Transport for Terrain Erosion Simulation
erosiv.studio
July 6, 2026 at 5:57 PM
redblobgames.com
For a long time 3D graphics had a fixed function pipeline. Over time, that loosened up, and we can now write "shaders" to control how it works. I've been wondering about the same with LLMs—
July 2, 2026 at 4:51 PM
redblobgames.com
Love this video!

I don't have a perfect system but:

- I keep short term stuff on paper
- I keep long term stuff on the computer (ideally searchable text files, but I also use Notion occasionally)

I don't do a lot of organizing (mindmap, zettlekasten, etc.). My notes are messy.
mskayyali.com Saleh @mskayyali.com · Jun 10
New Video on Interface Studies
What Every Productivity App Trades Away youtu.be/OuEKdD_1F8s?...

As we chase the latest productivity systems, this video takes a step back to examine the fundamental trade-offs built into every productivity app.
What Every Productivity App Trades Away
YouTube video by Interface Studies
youtu.be
June 25, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by Red Blob Games
fasterthanli.me
Broadcasting negative opinions about something is an easy way to get a lot of people to agree with you, because it resonates with them. They've been thinking the same thing, and they were too afraid to say it out loud. And it feels good to have someone else say it.

And it becomes self-sustaining...
June 20, 2026 at 7:38 PM
redblobgames.com
Bobbie's interview questions were great — it got me thinking about what I'm working on and what I'd like to be working on
bobbiechen.com Bobbie Chen @bobbiechen.com · Jun 16
Today, it has never been easier to create something, anything. But when given the opportunity, most people never do.

So I interviewed four creators I admire, on how they make the exciting, creative, uniquely-personal things they do - and here's the result: digitalseams.com/blog/making-...
Making things: interview series — Digital Seams
When you can make anything, what do you choose? And why even try, when someone else is doing it better?
digitalseams.com
June 16, 2026 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Red Blob Games
kirkman.bsky.social
I have finally solved a minor retrocomputing mystery related to my favorite BBS door game, "Solar Realms Elite." It had befuddled me for many years.

breakintochat.com/blog/2026/06...

#bbs #retrocomputing #ansiart #gamedev #textmode
The mystery of the Solar Realms Elite title screen - Break Into Chat
In my recent series ANSI art and webcomics, I debunked a false assertion that began in a history book and propagated across the web. Now it’s time to solve the mystery of an old ANSI art screen that I...
breakintochat.com
June 15, 2026 at 1:38 AM
Reposted by Red Blob Games
righto.com
Intel introduced the 8087 floating-point chip in 1980 to make math faster. The chip does tangents, square roots, and so forth, but fundamentally everything is computed through additions and subtractions, performed by an adder at the heart of the chip. Let's look at the adder's circuitry... 1/N
A die photo of the 8087 chip, with functional blocks labeled. The die has complex patterns with roughly rectangular shapes. Around the edges, thin bond wires connect the die to the chip's 40 external pins. In the bottom center, the adder is highlighted. It is a tall, thin rectangle in the middle of the "fraction datapath". Above it is the exponent datapath.
June 13, 2026 at 4:17 PM