BlockMaster

About

BlockMaster is a Breakout clone that I developed using my game engine project, Metagine. BlockMaster is written in C++ and developed over the course of 2 days (and 1 hangover) as part of my own personal mini game jam. This was an interesting project because it gave me an opportunity to develop to a strict deadline and equally demonstrate that Metagine can actually be used to make a game. I borrowed some of the splash screen code and menu structure from my other game project, Able In Space.

Features

  • Breakout-style gameplay (more coming soon!).
  • Splash-screen and interactive menu.
  • Sound effects generated using sfxr.
  • Step-by-step help guide.
  • Breakout physics modeled using Box2D physics library.
  • Simple particle effects.

Lessons Learned

Developing BlockMaster was a thoroughly interesting process which granted me the opportunity to learn a few lessons for future reference:

  • Developing to a strict schedule (set myself).
  • Optimizing Metagine to run on other computers.
  • Understanding how game requirements can steer the engine development.
  • Play-testing was greatly helped with the use of developer console variables.

System Requirements

Thanks to some helpful feedback I can tell you that the game runs well on even low-powered computers. The only exception being certain netbooks with Intel integrated graphics cards (I’m looking into fixing this). I can also tell you that the game runs in Linux under Wine.

Download

You can download both binary and source-code releases of BlockMaster. Please use the following links and choose your preferred file format:

  1. Download binary (zip).
  2. Download binary (7z).
  3. Source-code (zip).
  4. Source-code (7z).

Please note you will also need the Metagine source-code if you wish to recompile BlockMaster.

Screenshots

Here are some screenshots of BlockMaster in action. For the most part it looks like a regular Breakout clone. The 2D graphics were also made by me so apologies about that! You can see the particle FX if you view the full images.

Video

The video below demonstrates the gameplay of BlockMaster. I’m pretty pleased with the particle effects and the ball trail. Its just a shame I couldn’t find any decent SFX!.