Mars DOS demo by Tim Clarke (1993)
Why Hacker News recommends it
Remembered fondly as a tiny, efficient demo that inspired graphics programmers and is a benchmark for modern terrain rendering.
What it is
A one-minute capture of Tim Clarke's 1993 'Mars' DOS demo, a roughly 5 KB program that renders a navigable terrain landscape in real time.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2016 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec Keyframe · 2016-06 · on “Source code for 4kb demoscene production “Elevated” released”
Second Reality was the best. First demo that I saw was Spaceballs' State of the art [LINK] and I vividly remember of thinking 'wtf is that, a video or what?' and then Second Reality a year later or so - [LINK] But then (I look all and every demo out there by then at the age of 13) I saw Mars demo [this video] which hooked me forever on the path of graphics programming.
Recommends reconnecting · 2025-07 · on “MacPaint Art from the Mid-80s Still Looks Great Today”
It's amazing what people achieved with the resources of the '80s, creating fairly enjoyable visuals using extremely limited technology. Another example from the early '90s is MARS.COM (1) by Tim Clarke (1993). Just 6 kilobytes and 30+ fps on a 12MHZ 286 (2). 1. [this video] 2. [LINK]
Cites cousin_it · 2016-01 · on “Voxel.css”
Voxels are the most expensive way to model a 3D shape, and browser CSS is the slowest way to render a 3D shape. These two were made for each other. The next step is to reimplement the Mars DOS demo [1] using voxels in the browser, and marvel at the slowdown compared to 1993. It's discouraging that we're supposed to cheer for progress even when it's headed backwards. [1] [this video]
Cites marcusjt · 2020-01 · on “Terrain rendering algorithm in less than 20 lines of code”
Here's a video of it in action, for those unfamiliar, the poster had also included a link to its location at Pouet [this video]
Cites velosol · 2023-07 · on “Demoscene accepted as UNESCO cultural heritage in The Netherlands”
Thinking about demos brought me right back to probably one of the first things I downloaded, the 'controllable' Mars demo [1,2]. I zoomed around that landscape in the way a child can pour hours into what anyone older would view as painfully repetitive. Based on the YT comments it's been done at shadertoy too: [LINK] [1]: [LINK] [2]: [this video]