https://youtube.com/channel/UCEwhtpXrg5MmwlH04ANpL8A Hey, ex-Google, ex-gamedev. I code things, mostly game related, sometimes not. TV & Film Podsync generator (support us at https://github.com/mxpv/podsync) en-us Mon, 20 Apr 2026 09:28:17 +0000 Fri, 25 Oct 2019 17:33:08 +0000 https://yt3.ggpht.com/ytc/AIdro_nrhrY4bc-n0ht25t2viJnM0O-ukXzgoRMFM7aW5AdjkA=s800-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj https://youtube.com/channel/UCEwhtpXrg5MmwlH04ANpL8A SimonDev SimonDev yes false phbaxNPJxss https://youtube.com/watch?v=phbaxNPJxss Performance is one of the most important aspects of game development, but how do you actually approach it? Let's explore how to investigate a performance issue, and understand what steps and strategies we can employ. Gamedev Courses: https://simondev.io Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt Follow me on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev Reference: https://simoncoenen.com/blog/programming/graphics/DoomEternalStudy.html https://github.com/dbartolini/data-oriented-design https://www.computerenhance.com/p/clean-code-horrible-performance https://x.com/AgileJebrim/status/1783085023442137197 https://x.com/SebAaltonen/status/1655959255181152256 https://knarkowicz.wordpress.com/2014/04/16/octahedron-normal-vector-encoding/ https://developer.android.com/games/optimize/vertex-data-management https://abseil.io/fast/hints.html https://nnethercote.github.io/perf-book/profiling.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpgXz5Z9v-U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLcksHR30UA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb-tlY6ytk8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0hrpf9oSW4 Tue, 03 Feb 2026 17:01:18 +0000 SimonDev How to optimize (almost) anything 20:18 false 1 eRVRioN4GwA https://youtube.com/watch?v=eRVRioN4GwA Math is important for game developers, but how much math do you really need? And is it really as difficult as it seems? Let's explore and understand some of the common uses for math in games. Gamedev Courses: https://simondev.io Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt Follow me on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev In this video, we take a look at the various bits of math that come in useful for game developers. "Dripping Icicles" by barberducky: https://www.shadertoy.com/view/MX3cRM Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternion Cayley Q8 multiplication graph" by Cmglee is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cayley_Q8_multiplication_graph.svg Great free resources: https://www.youtube.com/@JorgeVinoRodriguez/videos https://www.youtube.com/@3blue1brown https://www.youtube.com/@acegikmo Wed, 05 Feb 2025 12:03:20 +0000 SimonDev What Kind of Math Should Game Developers Know? 19:39 false 2 3so7xdZHKxw https://youtube.com/watch?v=3so7xdZHKxw Radiance Cascades are an innovative solution to global illumination from the devs of Path of Exile 2. Let's explore and implement their approach. Gamedev Courses: https://simondev.io Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt Follow me on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev In this video, we look through the recent Radiance Cascades paper from the devs of Path of Exile 2, explore the ideas behind their approach, and implement something similar. Reference: Paper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L6v1_7HY2X-LV3Ofb6oyTIxgEaP4LOI6/view?usp=sharing Discord: https://discord.com/channels/318590007881236480/1142751596858593372 Other great explanations: GM Shaders: https://mini.gmshaders.com/p/radiance-cascades Tmpvar: https://tmpvar.com/poc/radiance-cascades/ Tue, 02 Jul 2024 11:00:03 +0000 SimonDev Exploring a New Approach to Realistic Lighting: Radiance Cascades 14:57 false 3 CMFjgWQCGC8 https://youtube.com/watch?v=CMFjgWQCGC8 Breakthroughs aren't created in a vacuum. Let's dig into Quake's technical failures and missteps, in order to better understand their ultimate success. Gamedev Courses: https://simondev.teachable.com/ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt Follow me on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev In this video, we explore some of the history behind Quake's ground-breaking rendering technology. The developers explored a myriad of options, which ended up being dead-ends or non-starters, but laid the framework for what would eventually be their breakthrough. Reference: https://github.com/jagregory/abrash-black-book https://github.com/id-Software/Quake https://www.flipcode.com/harmless/issue01.htm#beamtrees Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi-bdUd9J3E Thu, 11 Apr 2024 11:00:09 +0000 SimonDev How Quake Failed their way to Success 21:51 false 4 hf27qsQPRLQ https://youtube.com/watch?v=hf27qsQPRLQ Level of detail and imposters are effective optimizations that work for reasons you may not fully understand. Let's explore why, from a hardware perspective, these work. Gamedev Courses: https://simondev.teachable.com/ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt Follow me on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev In this video, we explore the underlying reasons why optimizations like level of detail work. This involves understanding at a deep level, what the GPU expects in terms of data, what the hardware is optimized for, and how the pipeline and physical hardware units are setup. References: https://developer.nvidia.com/content/life-triangle-nvidias-logical-pipeline https://gpuopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/AMD_Graphics_pipeline_GIC2020.pdf https://www.amd.com/system/files/documents/rdna-whitepaper.pdf https://shaderbits.com/blog/octahedral-impostors https://www.humus.name/index.php?page=Comments&ID=228 https://www.g-truc.net/post-0662.html https://developer.nvidia.com/gpugems/gpugems3/part-iv-image-effects/chapter-21-true-impostors https://developer.arm.com/documentation/102695/0100/Triangle-and-polygon-usage?lang=en#micro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRhJT2nmvA4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE-4GvjKcfs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKQem4Z6ioQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdBZY2fkU-0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWm_OhIKms8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-50MJf7hyOw Mon, 29 Jan 2024 15:30:18 +0000 SimonDev When Optimisations Work, But for the Wrong Reasons 22:19 false 5 CHYxjpYep_M https://youtube.com/watch?v=CHYxjpYep_M We explore the evolution of culling and visibility determination in video games, building on work started over 30 years ago, and evolving with every generation of hardware. Gamedev Courses: https://simondev.teachable.com/ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt Follow me on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev In this video, I implement some of the various visibility techniques used by AAA games like Just Cause 2, Battlefield, and Splinter Cell, and others. We walk through the history of GDC presentations, and see how the techniques have evolved to what's considered state of the art today. References talks: https://advances.realtimerendering.com/s2021/Karis_Nanite_SIGGRAPH_Advances_2021_final.pdf https://advances.realtimerendering.com/s2015/aaltonenhaar_siggraph2015_combined_final_footer_220dpi.pdf https://gamma.cs.unc.edu/papers/documents/technicalreports/tr97004.pdf https://developer.nvidia.com/gpugems/gpugems2/part-i-geometric-complexity/chapter-6-hardware-occlusion-queries-made-useful https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spr01/cs598b/papers/greene93.pdf https://blog.paavo.me/cities-skylines-2-performance/ https://www.humus.name/Articles/Persson_CreatingVastGameWorlds.pdf https://www.ea.com/frostbite/news/culling-the-battlefield-data-oriented-design-in-practice https://www.guerrilla-games.com/read/practical-occlusion-culling-in-killzone-3 https://blog.selfshadow.com/publications/practical-visibility/ https://www.selfshadow.com/talks/rwc_gdc2010_v1.pdf https://aras-p.info/texts/D3D9GPUHacks.html Tue, 05 Dec 2023 14:00:14 +0000 SimonDev How Games Have Worked for 30 Years to Do Less Work 23:40 false 6 bp7REZBV4P4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=bp7REZBV4P4 Trying out the last grass and foliage rendering techniques used by Ghost of Tsushima. 🛒 Recommended books (on Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1IMV0IR3QIZMQ?type=wishlist&tag=simondev01-20&sort=priority&viewType=grid ❤️ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt 🌍 My Gamedev Courses: https://simondev.teachable.com/ Disclaimer: Commission is earned from qualifying purchases on Amazon links. Follow me on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev In this video, I tried implement the grass techniques explained by SuckerPunch in their talk "Procedural Grass in 'Ghost of Tsushima'". We walk though a lot of their basic setup, explore some possible alternative implementations, and end up with a nice little scene full of grass. Three.js SSAO Used: https://github.com/N8python/n8ao References talks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibe1JBF5i5Y https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1027033/Advanced-Graphics-Summit-Procedural-Grass Mon, 06 Nov 2023 12:00:35 +0000 SimonDev How do Major Video Games Render Grass? 9:33 false 7 easvMCCBFkQ https://youtube.com/watch?v=easvMCCBFkQ How much overhead is there really for garbage collection, is it as high as so many people say it is? My Courses: https://simondev.teachable.com/ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt Follow me on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ Garbage Collection is often cited as a major source of performance problems in JavaScript. In this vdeo, we explore garbage collection a bit, and try to understand when and how the overhead is high and when it isn't. Links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracing_garbage_collection https://v8.dev/blog/free-garbage-collection https://v8.dev/blog/trash-talk Mon, 19 Jun 2023 11:00:28 +0000 SimonDev Is the COST of JavaScript’s GC REALLY that high? 13:52 false 9 kkMt4lrJzs8 https://youtube.com/watch?v=kkMt4lrJzs8 What is sin/cos/tan really? How do they relate to the dot product? How are they even computed by your hardware? My Courses: https://simondev.teachable.com/ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt Follow me on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ Trigonometry is often cited as an are of math for game development. In this video, I explore trig functions a bit, what they actually compute for you in a visual way, and tie that together with basic linear algebra. Lastly, we explore how these functions are actually computed under the surface. Intel Paper: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/doc/10.1.1.24.5177 Robin Green's Blog: https://basesandframes.wordpress.com/2016/05/17/faster-math-functions/ Tue, 28 Feb 2023 17:00:34 +0000 SimonDev So how does your computer ACTUALLY compute sine? Basics of trig and more… 7:41 false 10 ml-5OGZC7vE https://youtube.com/watch?v=ml-5OGZC7vE Trying out some of the latest approaches to Bloom used in Unity/Unreal. 🛒 Recommended books (on Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1IMV0IR3QIZMQ?type=wishlist&tag=simondev01-20&sort=priority&viewType=grid ❤️ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt 🌍 My Gamedev Courses: https://simondev.teachable.com/ Disclaimer: Commission is earned from qualifying purchases on Amazon links. Follow me on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev In this video, I tried going through some of the modern approaches to Bloom, explained a bit of the history, and where it may be going in the future. I walk through Kawase's Blur Filter, box and gaussian blurs and how to do separable filters, and explore the fourier transform and convolution bloom. Referenced Papers/Talks: The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT): Most Ingenious Algorithm Ever?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7apO7q16V0 The Remarkable Story Behind The Most Important Algorithm Of All Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmgFG7PUHfo http://www.iryoku.com/next-generation-post-processing-in-call-of-duty-advanced-warfare https://www.chrisoat.com/papers/Oat-ScenePostprocessing.pdf https://de45xmedrsdbp.cloudfront.net/Resources/files/The_Technology_Behind_the_Elemental_Demo_16x9-1248544805.pdf Mon, 23 Jan 2023 17:00:29 +0000 SimonDev How Big Budget AAA Games Render Bloom 13:23 false 11 Qj_tK_mdRcA https://youtube.com/watch?v=Qj_tK_mdRcA Explored a few of the latest techniques in procedural cloud rendering used in Horizon: Zero Dawn and the FrostBite engine. 🛒 Recommended books (on Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1IMV0IR3QIZMQ?type=wishlist&tag=simondev01-20&sort=priority&viewType=grid ❤️ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt 🌍 My Gamedev Courses: https://simondev.teachable.com/ Disclaimer: Commission is earned from qualifying purchases on Amazon links. Follow me on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ In this video, I walk through how cloud rendering generally works, as well as covering some of the more recent tweaks/improvements and optimizations. Referenced Papers/Talks: https://www.ea.com/frostbite/news/physically-based-sky-atmosphere-and-cloud-rendering https://www.guerrilla-games.com/read/the-real-time-volumetric-cloudscapes-of-horizon-zero-dawn http://magnuswrenninge.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Wrenninge-OzTheGreatAndVolumetric.pdf Tue, 29 Nov 2022 12:00:22 +0000 SimonDev How Big Budget AAA Games Render Clouds 10:45 false 12 sChQCdbLdHE https://youtube.com/watch?v=sChQCdbLdHE Exploring why procedural noise (such as perlin noise) are so useful in game development and graphics. 🛒 Recommended books (on Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1IMV0IR3QIZMQ?type=wishlist&tag=simondev01-20&sort=priority&viewType=grid ❤️ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt 🌍 My Gamedev Courses: https://simondev.teachable.com/ Disclaimer: Commission is earned from qualifying purchases on Amazon links. Follow me on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ In this video, I cover how to generate value, gradient, and voronoi noise. We go over how they're computed, and as well, we'll walk through some uses in game development, and VFX settings. Fri, 28 Oct 2022 11:00:43 +0000 SimonDev The ONE Texture Every Game NEEDS 9:00 false 13 YJB1QnEmlTs https://youtube.com/watch?v=YJB1QnEmlTs Exploring some common math that game developers use, let's look at linear interpolation and apply it to everything. 🛒 Recommended books (on Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1IMV0IR3QIZMQ?type=wishlist&tag=simondev01-20&sort=priority&viewType=grid ❤️ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt 🌍 My Gamedev Courses: https://simondev.teachable.com/ Disclaimer: Commission is earned from qualifying purchases on Amazon links. Follow me on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ In this video, I cover lerp, also known as mix in GLSL, a common mathematical function used in game dev. It's extremely versatile, and we'll go through basic uses, as well as some problems and how to overcome them. Some easing functions to try out: https://easings.net/ https://iquilezles.org/articles/functions/ Tue, 27 Sep 2022 17:30:06 +0000 SimonDev An In-Depth look at Lerp, Smoothstep, and Shaping Functions 8:39 false 14 BNZtUB7yhX4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=BNZtUB7yhX4 Built this entire video on raymarching in shaders using shaders, ray marching, and signed distance functions. 🛒 Recommended books (on Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1IMV0IR3QIZMQ?type=wishlist&tag=simondev01-20&sort=priority&viewType=grid ❤️ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simondevyt 🌍 My Gamedev Courses: https://simondev.teachable.com/ Disclaimer: Commission is earned from qualifying purchases on Amazon links. Follow me on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/iced_coffee_dev Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beer_and_code/ In this video, I cover ray marching and some of the cool stuff you can do with it in shaders. We cover basic scene construction, unions/intersections/subtractions, doing smooth minimums, normal generation and soft shadows, and anything else that seems kinda neat about the technique. Ray Marching: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_marching Great Resource for Ray Marching and SDF's: https://iquilezles.org/ Smooth Maximum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smooth_maximum Mon, 29 Aug 2022 15:30:03 +0000 SimonDev Ray Marching, and making 3D Worlds with Math 6:28 false 15