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This course will teach you how to create a complete raycasting engine from scratch. We'll use an algorithm similar to the one used in Wolfenstein 3D. The final project will be coded using both JavaScript and C. It will implement player movement, 2D map view, 3D wall projection, textured walls, sprites, and other optimization techniques.
This course will be divided in two important parts:
1. The first part of the course uses JavaScript to cover the theory and the math behind the raycasting algorithm. JavaScript is a simple high-level scripting language that helps us not get too distracted with implementation details.
2. The second part of the course uses the C programming language to implement a compiled version of our raycaster, including textured walls and sprites. We'll also use C to discuss important optimization and performance aspects of our code.
You'll need a web browser that can run JavaScript and a small C compiler. All these tools are cross-platform, so you can follow along with either Windows, macOS, or Linux!
The Wolfenstein 3D raycasting algorithm we'll learn is heavily based on trigonometry, so make sure you have pen and paper ready for the lectures. I will make sure we review and understand every formula we find along the way!
This course has no prerequisites. We'll cover all the math and the code as we go along, so even beginners with no prior experience are welcome to join!
Other raycasting tutorials out there are either too long or overwhelmingly complex. This course tries to be as beginner-friendly as possible.
We never skip any of the math or any other implementation detail. Everything is always taught from scratch, and you get to see the code evolving line by line in front of your eyes!
Gustavo Pezzi is a university lecturer in London, UK. He has won multiple education awards as a teacher and is also the founder of pikuma.com.
Gustavo teaches fundamentals of computer science and mathematics; his academic path includes institutions such as Pittsburg State University, City University of London, and University of Oxford.
"This course taught me the magic behind the Raycasting technique, very clearly and concisely. I enjoyed the course from start to finish. This course make me better understand how to implement the Raycasting technique from its foundations using one of my favourite programming languages. This course also encouraged me to implement new challenging features like transparent walls or portal mirrors, just for fun. I strongly recommend this course. Thank you Gustavo."
"This was a wonderful course. I grew up with very limited Math skills. So this course really helped me to understand much of the mathematics behind this Raycasting approach. Thank you for making this course!"
"Fun but not perfect. The important part of the course is seeing the implementation of a fun algorithm, and this is conveyed well both in terms of how to write the algorithm and understanding how it works. The drawback of the course is that the code that is presented often goes against industry best practices, e.g. with var instead of let statements in the JavaScript code and tons of global variables in the C code (instead of explicit argument passing). I would recommend this course for an experienced programmer that's looking for some fun. For the junior programmer, there's a heavy does of asterixis that follow pretty much every single statement in this course."
"Amazing course! This course was amazing, thank you! I really enjoyed the lessons pace and the raycasting technique."
"Its the best way to start understanding rendering. i think Gustavo is a great person to teach complicated stuff very easily."
