Show HN: 1990s Game Dev Algorithms for Distributed Systems

16 hours ago

Mercator is an open-source spatial indexing library for Sui that enables trustless polygon registration with zero overlap directly in smart contracts.
It employs 1990s game engine algorithms, including AABB for filtering, quadtrees with Morton Z-curve for indexing, and SAT for collision detection, all using integer-based arithmetic for deterministic results.
On-chain collision detection prevents double-claim problems by ensuring atomicity, unlike oracle-based solutions that are vulnerable to race conditions.
The system scales logarithmically, with costs starting at ~$0.0065 for a 4-vertex polygon, and remains efficient even with many objects due to parallel processing enabled by Sui's dynamic object model.
EVM, Solana, and Aptos face limitations like gas costs, static memory requirements, or concurrency issues, making Mercator incompatible with those platforms.
Mercator imposes constraints such as convex polygon decomposition, DOS limits, no privacy, and a flat coordinate system, but offers open-source modules and a live demo for practical use.

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