Lone game dev builds an explorable cyberpunk city almost entirely out of ASCII characters

Typing something that looks a bit like a face using nothing but a semicolon, an underscore, and what I've just learned is called a caret will never not be charming to me. However, the odd kaomoji is the limit of my text-based artistic talent. I can do nought but bow down to the supreme power of ASCII artists—especially when some are making entire cyberpunk cities out of ASCII symbols.

But rather than an impressive 2D image, one solo developer has created an ASCII sci-fi city that you can walk around. Traditional 3D models are eschewed in favour of a custom ray-casting engine that, at the risk of over-simplifying, renders visible surfaces as ASCII art. Built by Grow Now! Games, the creator describes the project as a "fun little prototype" that runs from a single HTML file.

"There's no Unity, there's no Unreal, there's no 3D models, textures, or shaders," the developer explains. "Underneath the system, if you like, it's a grid-based 3D world. The city stores where roads, buildings, trees, cars, and people are, along with things like building height. And every frame, the renderer casts rays out from the camera across that grid, finds the first thing each ray hits, and uses the distance to work out perspective, size, depth, and what should be hidden behind other things."

Rendering at a 'resolution' of 120 x 56 ASCII characters with noticeable flickering, it's not the easiest thing on the eyes. Still, at the time of writing, the developer's original prototype video has been viewed more than 1 million times, and if that isn't evidence folks crave visual styles beyond grim-dark realism, I don't know what is.

The developer has continued to work on the project since uploading that first video earlier this month, detailing a number of improvements in their latest upload. The biggest news is that they're now offering access to the prototype for any curious cyberpunks via their Ko-Fi. Alongside engine improvements, this playable version also bumps up the resolution to 180 x 80 ASCII characters, making for a generally smoother, more detailed experience.

Another big update to the prototype gives the buildings both interiors and multiple floors, allowing you to view the ASCII city from a fresh perspective. Grow Now! Games is far from done with the project, saying they've begun thinking about implementing a dialogue system and turning the prototype into a more fully-featured game.

Though still pretty unique, it wouldn't be the first game with an ASCII art style. For just one recent example from last year, our Josh got lost in the symbol sauce of Effulgence RPG, a turn-based title that sees you turning monster parts into weapons. Grow Now! Games hasn't teased any details beyond that potential dialogue system, but I can't wait to see how they paint their little ASCII town red.