Difference between revisions of "Shadow casting"

Revision as of 18:59, 22 December 2015

What is Shadow Casting?

Shadow casting is a way to implement Field of Vision. In shadow casting, a destination square is visible from a source square if there exists an unobstructed line from the center of the source square to any point in the destination square. There are several efficient algorithms to accomplish this, including two which only visits squares that are visible (Spiral Path FOV and FOV using recursive shadowcasting).

Advantages

Moderately easy to implement
Efficient
Existing library

Disadvantages

Some artifacts (corners of rooms, for example).
Non-symmetric, making it awkward for some implementations of ranged combat.

How do I implement it?

What games use it?

Most modern games use shadow casting.

What libraries implement it?

SquidLib is a Java library which includes an easy to read recursive shadowcasting algorithm.
libfov is a C library which implements recursive shadow casting.
Roguelike Library For Java provides an implementation of shadow casting in Java.
libtcod
rot.js implements Precise Shadowcasting

@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
 * [[SquidLib]] is a Java library which includes an easy to read recursive shadowcasting algorithm.
-* [[libfov]] is a C++ library which implements recursive shadow casting.
+* [[libfov]] is a C library which implements recursive shadow casting.
 * [[Roguelike Library For Java]] provides an implementation of shadow casting in Java.
 * [[libtcod]]