How Pizza Tycoon simulated traffic on a 25 MHz CPU

6 hours ago

Pizza Tycoon ran traffic simulation on a 25 MHz 386 CPU using simple, efficient algorithms.
Traffic flow is guided by road tile types, each with predefined directions, eliminating the need for pathfinding.
Cars move one pixel per frame with tile-boundary logic executed every 16 pixels to reduce CPU load.
Collision detection uses pairwise O(n²) checks optimized by early exit for incompatible directions and lanes.
Spawning is based on tile type and district traffic density, with cars respawned when they exit the screen.
Simple rules like random turns at corners and no consecutive left turns keep traffic looking natural.
The system avoids complex modern concepts, relying on cheap operations and minimal state for efficiency.

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