Programming, game dev,
and the space between.

This is an example article for the starter site. Replace it with a real devlog through the admin studio. A game loop is a useful first topic because it touches timing, input, simulation, and the feel of play.

Why a fixed step helps

Rendering can follow the display. Simulation needs a stable rhythm. When the time step changes with every frame, small differences accumulate and make movement or collision harder to reason about.

A simple loop tracks elapsed time, advances the simulation in fixed increments, then draws the latest state.

rustCopy
let step = Duration::from_secs_f64(1.0 / 60.0);
let mut accumulator = Duration::ZERO;

loop {
    accumulator += frame_time();
    while accumulator >= step {
        update_world(step);
        accumulator -= step;
    }
    render_world();
}

The edge cases matter

You still need to decide what happens when a frame takes much longer than expected. A clamp prevents the simulation from spending too long catching up. Input should be sampled deliberately so short presses do not disappear between updates.

• Measure frame times during development.
• Keep simulation state separate from visual interpolation.
• Test behavior at slow and uneven frame rates.

What I would test next

Record an input sequence and replay it with different render frame rates. The same simulation result is a useful sign that the boundary between update and draw is doing its job.