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VVVVVV Source Code

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Re: VVVVVV Source Code

#41

Post by matheusmoreira »

oofabz wrote: post #9
rafram wrote: post #6

Awesome game. Good to see the code is authentically bad for an indie game of that era.

Authentically bad is a good way to put it. My favorite part is the 3300 line Game::updatestate() function and its gigantic switch statement.

I think it's pretty charming. Games have so much abstraction these days it feels like there's no way to truly understand what it is they're even doing.

One can spend months agonizing over the true nature of things and how ideas and concepts relate to each other and eventually distill it all into some object oriented organization that implements not just your game but all possible games.

One can also just cycle the game's state machine in a big function, haha switch statement go brrr. Reminds me of the old NES games which would statically allocate memory for game objects, very much in the "structure of arrays" style, they too had game logic just like that.

Also reminds me of old electromechanical pinball machines. You can literally see the machine cycle.

https://youtu.be/ue-1JoJQaEg

https://youtu.be/E3p_Cv32tEo

Re: VVVVVV Source Code

#42

Post by h2zizzle »

peterldowns wrote: post #3

Incredibly fun game, I'm not a huge gamer but I remember buying the Humble Bundle just to get this. One of the few games that I've spent the time to finish. Awesome work, Terry, and thank you for the great times! btw also fuck you for veni vidi vici, jeez that took me a while! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CtiY5D6HCs

I finally got it after a good few hundred tries, iirc. Prep for having the patience to finish Final Fantasy XV's Pitioss dungeon.

My boyfriend at the time (who'd bought VVVVVV for me), on the other hand, was attempting a no-death-all-trinket run. I could never understand just how damn good he was at gaming.

Oh, and PPPPPP (the soundtrack) remains a staple. Especially the associated osu! Stream tracks.

Re: VVVVVV Source Code

#43

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

addandsubtract wrote: post #30
jmmv wrote: post #16

I’ll take the chance to reference Super Hexagon by the same author. Incredibly fun and addictive game as well while being super simple. I recall reading somewhere that the author spent only a day or so writing it. And PPPPPP, the soundtrack for VVVVVV, is neat too!

While on the subject of games from the same author, Dicey Dungeons is an incredible fun game. Similar to a deck building rogue like, but instead of cards, you have dices. There are like six unique characters, multiple challenges per character, the rules keep changing (forcing you to rethink the game), and the game is filled with lots of humor. There's also free DLC and mod content, which I haven't even got to.

That game definitely doesn't get the respect it deserves! It's basically the giant on whose shoulders Balatro stood. Without being the giant :(

Re: VVVVVV Source Code

#44

Post by theandrewbailey »

peterldowns wrote: post #3

Incredibly fun game, I'm not a huge gamer but I remember buying the Humble Bundle just to get this. One of the few games that I've spent the time to finish. Awesome work, Terry, and thank you for the great times! btw also fuck you for veni vidi vici, jeez that took me a while! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CtiY5D6HCs

I bought the first Humble Bundles. VVVVVV has been sitting around in my Steam library ever since. Guess I'll get around to playing it now.

Re: VVVVVV Source Code

#46

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

oofabz wrote: post #9
rafram wrote: post #6

Awesome game. Good to see the code is authentically bad for an indie game of that era.

Authentically bad is a good way to put it. My favorite part is the 3300 line Game::updatestate() function and its gigantic switch statement.

Holy... all wrapped in an if statement too!

Re: VVVVVV Source Code

#47

Post by devnullbrain »

peterldowns wrote: post #3

Incredibly fun game, I'm not a huge gamer but I remember buying the Humble Bundle just to get this. One of the few games that I've spent the time to finish. Awesome work, Terry, and thank you for the great times! btw also fuck you for veni vidi vici, jeez that took me a while! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CtiY5D6HCs

This video fails to capture the experience of making it past each screen but landing on the left

Re: VVVVVV Source Code

#48

Post by nonethewiser »

Daub wrote: post #29
gallerdude wrote: post #17

When I was near the end of high school, my family visited London, and I was thinking about being a game dev. So I sent Terry Cavanagh an email, and to my surprise he completely agreed to get lunch. He was extremely kind, gave me a lot of interesting life advice. I remember him saying that he got most of his ideas just from playing around with mechanics and experimenting a lot, he was never really one to get grand vis…

> I remember him saying that he got most of his ideas just from playing around with mechanics and experimenting a lot This is important. Too many people assume that novel ideas come from abstract concepts. Yes they can, but they can equaly arise from playing with the medium.

Kinda easy to imagine the opposite as well... having some idea and then implementing it and feeling unsatisfied. Especially a game. It may check all the boxes thematically and have the required features but just not feel fun.

Not to say starting with a firm idea is bad... more like it may be hard to avoid playing around and improvising with the medium in any case.

Re: VVVVVV Source Code

#49

Post by gitroom »

been cool seeing how much small games like this stick in my head years later honestly. you think chasing clean code slows down the creative part or helps it?

Re: VVVVVV Source Code

#50

Post by WickyNilliams »

addandsubtract wrote: post #30
jmmv wrote: post #16

I’ll take the chance to reference Super Hexagon by the same author. Incredibly fun and addictive game as well while being super simple. I recall reading somewhere that the author spent only a day or so writing it. And PPPPPP, the soundtrack for VVVVVV, is neat too!

While on the subject of games from the same author, Dicey Dungeons is an incredible fun game. Similar to a deck building rogue like, but instead of cards, you have dices. There are like six unique characters, multiple challenges per character, the rules keep changing (forcing you to rethink the game), and the game is filled with lots of humor. There's also free DLC and mod content, which I haven't even got to.

Love this game. There's also some interesting write ups from the dev about the process. I really enjoyed (despite not being a game dev) this article on how the enemy AI works. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/how-enemy-ai-works-in-d...
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