iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Back to the 1KB ray tracer: next bottlenecks were D and Q. Chrome: indexed D ~1.4× faster; map-free Q ~1.6×. Together: ~8×. Firefox gained much less. My best guess: removing both patterns let V8 inline/scalarize the vector path. Then: 1027 B. 🫠 #JavaScript #webdev #programming #performance

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Yeah, absolutely 🙂 Just messing around in it is a joy. For anything bigger than a postcart-sized project though, I usually end up in vscode.

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Not systematically 🙂 /3 mostly came from tuning by feel. Smaller divisors would make f catch up faster, so I'd expect the ball to feel snappier. /3 just landed in a nice middle ground.

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

SUPAPONG's entire time system is basically one number: f. f smoothly follows the paddle's movement, and the ball's velocity is multiplied by it. The /3 eases the transition. Values below .01 snap to 0 - so when you stop, time actually stops. #PICO8 #GameDev #IndieDev

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Proud to have been part of it 🙌 Huge thanks to the organizer and to everyone who took part - this was a blast! 🚀✨

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

In SUPAPONG, every move costs time. You can stop and think as long as you want - but every move pushes the ball forward. PONG meets SUPERHOT in 843 compressed bytes. Play here: glebv.itch.io/supapong or find SUPAPONG in Splore. #Pico1k #PICO8 #GameDev #IndieDev #IndieGame

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

But it didn’t make it in. In SUPAPONG, time only moves when you move, so the serve timer would freeze too. That meant the ball could start the next serve at the same height as before - which felt unfair. So that bit had to go 🙂

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Original Atari PONG had no random serve. After a point, the ball vanished for ~1.7s, but its vertical counter kept running. When play resumed, the ball reappeared at whatever height the counter had reached. What looked random was just electronics. Here’s how it could look in SUPAPONG for #pico1k.

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

@cabel.panic.com once said: “There’s something special about loading a thing on a thing and then playing it ON THAT THING.” Now I totally get it 😄 Thanks to #pico8 being able to run on a real handheld, my tiny game now does too. Play SUPAPONG in Splore → search “SUPAPONG”

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

What happens if you put Tempest on the beat, add a unicorn and rainbows, then squeeze it all into 13KB? UNxR. Ta-da! 🦄🌈 #ScreenshotSaturday #js13k

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

For context, here’s the whole source. `T` is the hot loop; the highlighted names are the free names resolved inside it.

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

After removing `with(Math)`, I profiled the 1KB ray tracer to understand the 4–7× speedup. Surprise: D and Q barely changed. Most of the win came from the hot intersection loop, where free-name lookups checked Math first. That pointed straight at the next bottlenecks. #JavaScript #performance

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Yes on workload: 400×200, 64 spp, same scene/render path. I didn't use a separate warmup pass in the final cross-engine run - each measurement was a fresh browser launch, same procedure for both, 3 runs/variant, median reported. The speedups are within-engine.

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

My 1KB JavaScript ray tracer got a lot of feedback for being painfully slow 😅 One anonymous reviewer pointed at `with(Math)` as a likely culprit, so I benchmarked it. Removing it made the same render 4.26× faster in Chrome and 6.96× faster in Firefox. Cost: +1 packed byte. #codegolf #JavaScript

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Solo indie dev here 👋 I make tiny games for js13k, LOWREZJAM, PICO-1K and similar jams. Would love to be added!

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Yep, that’s me :) I make tiny browser/PICO-8 games, mostly for js13k, LOWREZJAM, PICO-1K and similar jams. Would love to be added!

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Since 2021, #js13k has grown into five games, each within 13 KB: Space Arcade, Enchanted Dungeon, XIII Floor, Catapoolt and UNxR. Along the way: Miniracers, a 64×64 px PICO-8 racer for #LOWREZJAM. Latest: SUPAPONG - PONG × SUPERHOT in less than 1 KB for #pico1k. So far ↓

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

My new game, SUPAPONG 🏓 PONG meets SUPERHOT - time moves only when you move. 843 compressed bytes, made for the PICO-1K Jam 2026 ✨ Play now: glebv.itch.io/supapong #pico8 #pico1k #sizecoding #gamedev #indiedev #indiegames

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Here’s a 64×64 PICO-8 demake of the UNxR logo reveal animation from my #js13k 2026 entry. Source code: just 292 chars 👇 www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=159... Play UNxR & vote for it: js13kgames.com/2026/games/u... #pico8 #postcart #gamedev #pixelart #demake #indiedev

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

People ask what UNxR means. It’s pronounced “UNKser”: UN and R are the first letters of this year’s #js13k theme. R also stands for Rhythm, the core mechanic; x marks the crossover with Tempest-style gameplay. And if you dig a bit deeper, the whole name is a subtle nod to TxK.

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Meet UNxR 🦄🌈 - my @js13kGames 2026 “Unicorns & Rainbows” entry. 13KB. 99 levels. 16 arenas. 5 enemy types, each with unique behavior - Tempest × rhythm game crossover. Miss the beat, lose your turn! Play & vote 👇 js13kgames.com/2026/games/u... #js13k #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Spotted Cathy de Monchaux’s famous Unicorn at Palais de Tokyo in Paris 🦄 Meanwhile, I was there making my game UNxR for the #js13k contest with a very similar theme: “Unicorns and Rainbows.” 🌈 js13kgames.com/2026/games/u... Check it out!

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

A high-resolution version rendered offline can be seen here ✨

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Here is my entry for this year's #js1024fun A JavaScript port of the famous Business Card Raytracer that fits in just 1016 bytes js1024.fun/demos/2026/9... Please be patient - the rendering takes a while 🙃

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

It's kind of mesmerizing to see sand (and water!) falling in space #SpaceArcadeRemastered #gamedev

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Put two screenshots side by side - only changed pixel size normalization + mapped colors to the NTSC palette, and it just clicks. Way more cohesive and readable. Go go Atari 2600 vibes 🚀 Next step: real terraforming via simulation! #SpaceArcadeRemastered #Atari2600 #gamedev

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Remastering my first #js13k entry from 2021 - SPACE ARCADE 👾 Just noticed that converting from Cartesian to polar coordinates creates noticeable horizontal stretching of shapes toward the screen edges - giving off strong Atari 2600 vibes, where pixels weren't square:

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Sorry, I couldn't resist 🫡

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Experiments with a plotter ahead of Christmas - testing forms, density, and rhythm, one tree at a time 🎄 #GenerativeArt #PlotterArt #CreativeCoding

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

The main takeaway from #js13k 2025: don't sink time into big, complex, self-contained concepts you don't have resources to finish properly. Start small but complete - then polish it as far as you can. Next year's goal: get the game to playtests and tune the gameplay from there 🚀

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

I ranked 14th overall and an insane 4th in the Mobile category at #js13k 2025 with my game Catapoolt 🎯 👉 js13kgames.com/2025/games/c... Not bad for a game made in just 2 days 😅 Huge thanks to everyone who helped, supported, and made this year’s compo so tough and awesome!

js13kgames.com

Catapoolt

A game in the js13kGames 2025 competition. Play it now, for free!

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

By the way, you can check out the awesome soundtrack by Katie Spogreeva as part of the official OST 👉 js13k.bandcamp.com/track/catapo... Massive shoutout - she delivers bangers every. damn. year 🔥

js13k.bandcamp.com

Catapoolt, by Katie Spogreeva

from the album 13K Cat Bites

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

All sounds & music in my #js13k entry Catapoolt were made in #pico8 🎶 Playing them on Web (desktop + mobile) was made possible thanks to the awesome 'pico8-music' library by Cody Ebberson - took a few tweaks, but totally worth it 🙌 Huge thanks for helping my game sound! 🔊

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

In my #js13k game Catapoolt, the “hard-to-catch” mice are actually Autonomous Agents 🐭✨ They roam the game field using wander behavior and evade the cat with flee behavior - straight from the fantastic #theNatureOfCode book by @shiffman.lol

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

The main source of inspiration for the Catapoolt game 🫠

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

Guess I owe you more tails talk! 🐾 Cat tail is implemented as Verlet rope with inverted gravity. Mouse tails follow the logic from Emanuele Feronato's awesome “String Avoider” tutorial series - I finally found a way to sneak that into a game! emanueleferonato.com/tag/string-a...

emanueleferonato.com

String Avoider | Emanuele Feronato

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Surprisingly fast decisions under #js13k limits: needed cat tail aligned to body. Instead of proper math - pushing tail's anchor along normal between two adjacent soft-body points towards center (super unstable), I just increased body outline thickness. Hacky, but perfect! 😶‍🌫️ #gamedev #indiedev

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Initially, due to the round head-collider under gravity, the cat’s body stretched into an egg-like oval. To squash it flatter, more bun-like, I fake-support the butt with an invisible floor 👀

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

When the cat's head moves too fast, it can slip out of the body 👀 I make the body catch up by adding overshoot to all soft-body vertices. Verlet integration shines here - momentum stays, as I also adjust the previous positions of the body points 🤓

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

The cat is controlled by a circular collider inside a soft-body shell. In fact, all collisions with the ground and field bounds are calculated as collisions with a simple circle 🎓

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Here’s how the cat, the main character of the Catapoolt game for the #js13k contest, was made 👀 Big shoutout to Argonautcode, whose awesome tutorial youtu.be/GXh0Vxg7AnQ goes into detail on how to build a soft-body physics simulation #gamedev

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Here is my entry for #js13k 2025 competition - it's called Catapoolt 🙀💩 After changing the concept twice, it ended up being made in just 2 days! Play it here js13kgames.com/2025/games/c... Beautiful cover art by @tangreee to catch the eye:

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Making a flight over the voxel rendered terrain-like plasma in 300 chars 'cause what else to do at home when you're sick 🤒 #demoscene #voxel #pico8 #postcart gif/src: www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=164...

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

What golden words: “The absence of limitations is the enemy of art.” – Orson Welles

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

I've collected all the resources related to my #gamedev activity in one place linktr.ee/volkov_ayyy to make it easier for you to follow 👈 Photo of me with John Romero to get attention!

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

If you are in desperate need of a brand identity and your art skills are close to zero #asciiart comes to the rescue 🥳 Soon on every splash screen of my games.

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Gleb Volkov @glebv.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

🎄Merry Christmas! #asciiart #pico8 #postcart (300 chars) gif/src: lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=159...

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