Break Arcade Games Out»Blog
Dan Zaidan
Hello everyone!



In the course of 24 livestreams, we development a game from scratch, going from having absolutely nothing to having a game released on Steam!

In these 24 livestreams (a total of 81 hours of development), there is a LOT of good information for you, so I decided to organize it and list the main topics discussed throughout the development.

Kind of a step by step of what we did to develop the entire game.

Hopefully it can help you and point you in the right direction!





Steps taken to create the game:


Episode 1:
Planning what to make
Making a "Hello World" to test
Win32 Entry point
Opening a Window
First version of the Software Renderer
Input
Timings


Episode 2:
First gameplay prototype
Start organizing the code
Simple AABB collision
Full sweep collision (ball vs blocks)


Episode 3:
Gameplay experimentation
Structure to add new levels and change rules


Episode 4:
Finish the game code refactoring
Add several game mechanics


Episode 5:
Adding the original game design idea
Designing some levels to start iterating
Implementing a Random Number Generator algorithm


Episode 6:
Created Logging system
Fixed bugs
Making the game more robust and solid


Episode 7:
Game Feel (animations, ball trails, player feedback)



Episode 8:
Full Particle System
More animations
Improving the Controls
Bug fixing


Episode 9:
Engine robustness pass
Drawing rotated rectangles


Episode 10:
Drawing bitmaps
Subpixel accuracy
Drawing floats
Unique random seeds
Visual Effects


Episode 11:
Sound System
Playing a Square Wave
Reading .Wav files
Audio mixer (panning, pitch shifting)


Episode 12:
Fixed audio bugs
Multithreaded Programming: Job System
Started to make things run asynchronously


Episode 13:
Implemented a Main Menu
Implemented a Save System
Started implementing the Sound Effects
Fixing more bugs


Episode 14:
Added lots of sounds
Tweak the game's feel
Improved the existing systems


Episode 15:
Major visual and experience improvements
Game HUD
Draw Text support


Episode 16:
Bug solving
Created a Profiler
Analyzed the data and discussed optimization possibilities
Optimized the game (5x faster!): Hit the 4k at 60fps target


Episode 17:
Solidified the player's movement and animations
More frame-rate independent
Game sleep (fixed frame-rate)
General sound and gameplay improvements


Episode 18:
Designed and implemented a new Level
Improved existing systems to support what we wanted to do
Game design iteration


Episode 19:
Redid the entire collision system (Shippable version)
Camera system
Screenshake


Episode 20:
Wrapping up the gameplay
Fine-tuning the levels
Implemented animated level transitions


Episode 21:
Asset System
Package File spec
Cooker/Packager Tool
Ogg Reader
Async Asset loading and decompressing


Episode 22:
Final polish
Small tweaks and bug-fixing
Adding a config file (parsing, reading and changing data)
Exposed Mouse sensitivity to players
Exposed Windowed mode to players
Starter audio refactoring to make it shippable


Episode 23:
Finishing the game!
Some hardcode assembly debugging
Nice restructuring of the Audio Mixer (robust and thread-safe)
Final gameplay tweaks, improvements and polish


Episode 24:
Releasing the game on Steam!
Relax, Celebrate
Plan for what's next (this project and other projects)


That's it!


I hope you enjoy it!

Let me know if you have any questions! :D

Watch all the livestrems:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?...L7Ej6SUky1357r-Lqf_nogZWHssXP-hvH
Dan Zaidan
Hello everybody!



The game we have have created FROM SCRATCH on a live stream was released on Steam last week!

To celebrate it, I have opened the source code of the ENTIRE game to the PUBLIC DOMAIN so you can download it to learn, modify, copy, make your own games, whatever you want!

Download the Source Code for FREE:
https://store.steampowered.com/ap...rce_Code__Break_Arcade_Games_Out/


To help you get the big picture, I have made this video talking about the code, the structure and the basics of how it works.




I hope you like it!



Watch the Entire Development here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?...L7Ej6SUky1357r-Lqf_nogZWHssXP-hvH

Dan Zaidan
It's been quite a journey everyone, but now we have reached the end!



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1145020/Break_Arcade_Games_Out/

About two months ago, I started developing a game from scratch in C with the extra challenge of live streaming the entire process.
I have been super happy with the reception of the live streams on Twitch, the recordings on Youtube and the project on the Handmade Network.

What started out as a small game just to have fun, learn and teach, ended as a full release on Steam! I could not be happier with the way it turned out.

To celebrate it, I shared the source code for the game as a FREE download. The source code is dual licensed: public domain and a "do-whatever-you-want-with-it" license, so you can use it to learn, modify, create your own commercial games, anything at all!
https://store.steampowered.com/ap...rce_Code__Break_Arcade_Games_Out/

And since the game was entirely created on a live stream, you can watch the ENTIRE development, from the very first line of code all the way to the Steam release!
Check out the first livestream!


Here is the entire playlist!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?...L7Ej6SUky1357r-Lqf_nogZWHssXP-hvH

I really hope you enjoy the game and the source code, and maybe it will even help you in your game development journey!
I'll see you next time.

Thanks,
Dan Zaidan
Dan Zaidan
Hello everybody!

Break Arcade Games Out has a release date!


The game will be released on Steam and Itch.io for FREE on September 20th 2019.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1145020/Break_Arcade_Games_Out/
https://danzaidan.itch.io/break-arcade-games-out


Not only that, but the source code will also be available for free on release!
https://store.steampowered.com/ap...rce_Code__Break_Arcade_Games_Out/
https://danzaidan.itch.io/break-arcade-games-out


You can watch the ENTIRE development process: from the very first line of code to the Steam release here on Youtube:


There will one more live stream: the LAST livestream in this series, where I release the game on Steam, play it, review the development and have a lot of fun. You can watch that on Twitch on September 20th 2019 at 1:30 PM BRT:
https://www.twitch.tv/danzaidan


I hope to see you then!
Dan Zaidan
Hello everybody!

I'm very excited to say that the game I've been making entirely on live streams is now complete!
This has been a wonderful journey and I'd like to thank everyone who are watching and have helped.



The series started about two months ago and I really wasn't sure how it would turn out when I wrote the first line of C code, from scratch.

Well, now I can happily say that the game will be released on STEAM! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1145020/Break_Arcade_Games_Out/


The last programming live stream was done, where I fixed some bugs, polished some details and tweaked the game. You can watch it here:



All the previous episodes are available for you to watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?...L7Ej6SUky1357r-Lqf_nogZWHssXP-hvH

For people short on time, I have made a video showing the best moments of the first stream that you can watch here:


Here you can play the game and get the source code!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1145020/Break_Arcade_Games_Out/

Here you can download each episode's source code separately:
https://danzaidan.itch.io/break-arcade-games-out

If you have any questions I'd love to talk with you in the forum here: https://break-arcade-games-out.handmade.network/forums

Thanks!
Dan Zaidan