How to run a city builder on 16 MHz larstofus.com

Game programmer Lars reports that the original SimCity ran on a 16 MHz Intel 386SX by spreading updates to traffic, fire, crime and other systems across frames rather than recalculating them all every frame. He examines the game’s open-source Micropolis code and compares the technique with Assetto Corsa’s staggered cubemap updates and Unreal’s Lumen lighting.