"spyro the dragon" makes use of a 3d panoramic engine, being simultaneously developed by alex hastings, that could display far-away objects by utilizing varying levels of detail, a method of rendering which was new and unexplored at the time. the developers believed that the engine would be fitting for the game, as it could allow for more expansive levels that could take advantage of the character's abilities, such as gliding. this dynamic system, used to complement the large and sprawling environments, generates two different versions of a level; one version is rendered in high detail, while the other one is a simpler, textureless render. objects close to the player's vicinity are drawn using the detailed render, whereas distant ones are drawn from the simple render. this system allowed objects to be displayed from far distances while adhering to the playstation's limited ram capabilities, and was one of the first video games to make use of such a system. "spyro" was coded with efficiency in mind, as 3d rendering technology was new at the time and the game had to fit the limited specifications of the playstation. the game was mostly programmed using assembly code; around 80% of the game's code was written using this as its programming language. certain other parts were programmed in c, due to its simplicity and speed.