On the way down to visit Mum, Dad and 2/3 of my siblings, I took the work laptop with me. I, like most of my family, have a rather unhealthy fear of being bored. The intention was to continue with some of the Flash game development I’ve been doing.

Somewhat to my surprise, I actually did! On the way down to Oxford, I finished off Seifer Tim’s Flixel Basic Game Tutorial, making a little ninja game-ette, and on the way to Kent to visit Dad I gave the ninja a mouse-driven jet pack.

On the way back from Dad’s I realised that to turn the ninja game tutorial into an actual game would take a fair amount of work and planning, so I wondered how quickly I could do a simple Breakout clone, with the goal of making it a complete, if simple, game. I did some work on the way back from Dad’s, a little bit at Damian’s, and actually managed to get a complete draft done by the time I arrived in Glasgow! It definitely helped with the 5 hour train journey…

It’s not finished, or polished, or particularly pretty. The bat doesn’t yet allow you to direct the ball, so finishing off those last few blocks can take a long time! And there aren’t any sounds. However, it does do all the things games are supposed to do.

MyBreakout