diff --git a/_archive/about.md b/_archive/about.md index 408aef1..2c45463 100644 --- a/_archive/about.md +++ b/_archive/about.md @@ -1,11 +1,9 @@ --- title: About -description: Who we are and why we're building in public. +description: Who I am and why I'm building in public. draft: true --- -**Codegirl Games** is a game studio and content company with a simple mission: build and release affordable, full-feature games while teaching others how game development actually works. +**Codegirl Games** is a place with a simple mission: build full-feature games while showing others lessons I learned along the way. -We're not pretending to have all the answers. We're learning in public — comparing languages on the same project, applying patterns from books like *Game Programming Patterns*, and building a game engine through trial and error. - -If you want honest process over polished marketing, you're in the right place. +I'm not pretending to have all the answers. I'm learning in public: comparing languages on the same project, applying patterns from books like _Game Programming Patterns_, and building a game engine through trial and error. diff --git a/_archive/learn/_index.md b/_archive/learn/_index.md index d85356e..234d9fa 100644 --- a/_archive/learn/_index.md +++ b/_archive/learn/_index.md @@ -4,4 +4,4 @@ description: Devlogs, lessons, language comparisons, videos, and book reviews. draft: true --- -Tutorials, devlogs, and experiments from our game development journey. +Tutorials, devlogs, and experiments from my game development journey. diff --git a/_archive/learn/game-programming-patterns-review.md b/_archive/learn/game-programming-patterns-review.md index 0b9e26c..500f28c 100644 --- a/_archive/learn/game-programming-patterns-review.md +++ b/_archive/learn/game-programming-patterns-review.md @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ --- title: "Game Programming Patterns — first impressions" -description: A book review of Robert Nystrom's Game Programming Patterns and how we'll use it in our projects. +description: A book review of Robert Nystrom's Game Programming Patterns and how I'll use it in my projects. date: 2026-06-28 type: review book: "Game Programming Patterns" @@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ tags: ["patterns", "books"] draft: true --- -*Game Programming Patterns* by Robert Nystrom is the reference we're using as we build. The patterns aren't abstract — we're applying them to real code in our tower defense and engine experiments. +*Game Programming Patterns* by Robert Nystrom is the reference I'm using as I build. The patterns aren't abstract — I'm applying them to real code in my tower defense and engine experiments. -Expect follow-up posts that map specific chapters to our codebase: State for unit AI, Object Pool for projectiles, and more. +Expect follow-up posts that map specific chapters to my codebase: State for unit AI, Object Pool for projectiles, and more. diff --git a/_archive/learn/td-language-comparison-intro.md b/_archive/learn/td-language-comparison-intro.md index 83b06e1..572f9d2 100644 --- a/_archive/learn/td-language-comparison-intro.md +++ b/_archive/learn/td-language-comparison-intro.md @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ --- -title: "Why we're comparing languages on the same game" -description: Introducing our tower defense language comparison series — Odin, C, and C++. +title: "Why I'm comparing languages on the same game" +description: Introducing my tower defense language comparison series — Odin, C, and C++. date: 2026-07-01 type: lesson series: td-language-comparison @@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ tags: ["odin", "c", "cpp", "tower-defense"] draft: true --- -We're building the same tower defense game in multiple languages — starting with Odin, then C, then C++ — to compare what each language is actually like for game development. +I'm building the same tower defense game in multiple languages — starting with Odin, then C, then C++ — to compare what each language is actually like for game development. -This isn't a benchmark blog. We're documenting ergonomics, tooling, bugs, and the feeling of working in each language day to day. +This isn't a benchmark blog. I'm documenting ergonomics, tooling, bugs, and the feeling of working in each language day to day. More posts in this series coming soon. diff --git a/content/_index.md b/content/_index.md index 8c5e9ea..7dff6cb 100644 --- a/content/_index.md +++ b/content/_index.md @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ --- title: codegirl.games -description: We build affordable games and teach the craft along the way — documenting every step in public. +description: I build games and show the craft along the way, documenting every step in public. --- -We aim to build affordable games and teach things we learn along the way by documenting our journey. +I aim to build games and show things I learn along the way by documenting my journey. diff --git a/content/about.md b/content/about.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6807a90 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/about.md @@ -0,0 +1,10 @@ +--- +title: About +description: A place where I build games and share the development process in public. +--- + +**Codegirl Games** is a place where I build games and share how they're made: devlogs, experiments, and lessons from real projects. + +I'm not pretending to have all the answers. I'm learning in public: comparing languages on the same project, applying patterns from books like *Game Programming Patterns*, and building through trial and error. + +Whether you're starting out, leveling up, or just curious how games get made, you're in the right place. diff --git a/content/posts/_index.md b/content/posts/_index.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..78547b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/_index.md @@ -0,0 +1,6 @@ +--- +title: Posts +description: Devlogs, lessons, language comparisons, and book reviews from my game development work. +--- + +Devlogs, lessons, and experiments from my game development journey. diff --git a/content/posts/colony-sim-kickoff.md b/content/posts/colony-sim-kickoff.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3e66975 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/colony-sim-kickoff.md @@ -0,0 +1,117 @@ +--- +title: "Starting a colony sim, lessons I'm carrying forward" +description: "Kicking off a new Odin prototype and the grid-game patterns I already trust: cameras, tilemaps, and how to lay out entity data." +date: 2026-07-03 +type: lesson +series: colony-sim-prototype +series_order: 1 +languages: ["odin"] +tags: ["odin", "colony-sim", "game-dev"] +--- + +I'm starting a second prototype, a colony simulation, in [Odin](https://odin-lang.org/) and Raylib. It's early days and there's not much game there yet. This post isn't a feature tour. It's the stuff I already know works because I learned it building the [tower defense prototype](https://github.com/Codegirl-Games/tower-defense-prototype) first. + +If you're starting a top-down grid game, these are the foundations I keep reaching for. + +## The 2D camera is just coordinate math + +A 2D camera doesn't need a library. It's two numbers and two functions: + +- **Offset**: which world point sits at the center of the screen +- **Zoom**: how many world pixels map to one screen pixel + +Convert world → screen: + +``` +screen = (world - offset) * zoom + screen_center +``` + +Convert screen → world (for mouse input): + +``` +world = (screen - screen_center) / zoom + offset +``` + +That's it. Panning moves the offset. The scroll wheel clamps zoom between sensible min/max values. Pan speed gets divided by zoom so movement feels consistent when you're zoomed in. + +The lesson I keep re-learning: **every mouse click must go through `screen_to_world` before you do anything useful.** Selection, movement commands, building placement: all of it. Forget this once and your clicks drift when the camera moves. + +## Tilemaps are flat arrays with helpers + +A tilemap is a width, a height, and a flat buffer. Tile `(x, y)` lives at index `y * width + x`. Wrap access in two helpers and never think about the math again: + +- `tile_index(map, x, y)`: buffer lookup +- `tile_in_bounds(map, x, y)`: guard every read and write + +World position to tile coordinate is just `floor(world / tile_size)` on each axis. I used the same pattern in both prototypes. The colony sim added a comment in `tile_in_bounds`, *"learning from another game, this will become handy"*, because I skipped it early in the tower defense project and paid for it later. + +Terrain type can start as a `u8` per tile. A switch or lookup table maps type → color. Don't over-engineer biomes on day one; get the grid drawing and the coordinate conversions right first. + +When drawing, multiply tile size by zoom and cull tiles that fall off-screen. An 80×60 map is 4,800 rectangles, fine for a prototype, but the cull pass is free and keeps the pattern honest for bigger maps. + +## Logical tiles vs visual position + +Grid games have two positions whether you plan for it or not: + +- **Logical position**: which tile the entity occupies (`Tile_Coord{3, 7}`) +- **Visual position**: where the sprite actually renders (smoothly interpolated between tile centers) + +The colonist's grid cell updates one step at a time. The circle on screen lerps toward the next tile center each frame. Gameplay stays discrete; motion looks continuous. Mix these up and pathfinding, collision, and selection all get harder. + +I didn't need this in the tower defense game: enemies moved in continuous world space along a path. Colony sims live on tiles. Separate the two early. + +## Struct of arrays vs array of structs + +Both layouts show up in my code. Neither is always wrong. + +**Array of structs (AoS)**, what the tower defense prototype uses: + +```odin +enemies: [MAX_ENEMIES]Enemy, +``` + +Each slot is a full `Enemy` struct: position, health, speed, active flag, all together. Natural to read: `enemy.health -= damage`. Good when you often touch most fields on one entity at once. + +**Struct of arrays (SoA)**, what the colony sim uses: + +```odin +Entity_World :: struct { + active: [MAX_ENTITIES]bool, + position: [MAX_ENTITIES]Tile_Coord, + move_state: [MAX_ENTITIES]Move_State, + visual_position: [MAX_ENTITIES]rl.Vector2, + // ... +} +``` + +Each field is a parallel array across all entities. Good when you update one system at a time (move every entity, then draw every entity) and when entities are sparse (lots of inactive slots in a fixed pool). + +My rule of thumb so far: + +| Reach for AoS when… | Reach for SoA when… | +|---|---| +| Entities are few and always accessed whole | You iterate one component across many entities | +| Struct fits in cache and you're touching most of it | Many slots are inactive (object pool) | +| Code clarity matters more than layout | Systems are split (movement, render, AI) | + +Both prototypes use **fixed pools** with an `active` flag, no allocate/free per spawn. That pattern transferred directly from tower defense to colony sim regardless of AoS vs SoA. + +## Entity handles, not raw indices + +The colony sim returns `Entity`, a `distinct u32`, instead of passing array indices around. Internally it's `index + 1`, with `0` meaning invalid. Small thing, but it stops you from accidentally passing a tile coordinate or a mouse value where an entity ID goes. + +## Update and draw stay separate + +Both games follow the same loop shape: + +1. Read input +2. Update simulation (`world_update`, `entity_update_movement`) +3. Draw (`tilemap_draw`, `entity_draw`) + +Simulation code never calls draw functions. Draw code never changes game state. Obvious, but worth stating because it's the seam that keeps things readable as files multiply. + +## What I'm not writing about yet + +Pathfinding, job queues, resources, building: none of that exists in the repo yet. When there's a full week of work to show, I'll write a proper devlog. For now, the [repo](https://github.com/Codegirl-Games/colony-sim-prototype) is a camera, a tilemap, one colonist, and a right-click move command. + +The game will come. These patterns are the part I'm confident in. diff --git a/content/posts/game-programming-patterns-review.md b/content/posts/game-programming-patterns-review.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..62cbcd2 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/game-programming-patterns-review.md @@ -0,0 +1,81 @@ +--- +title: "Game Programming Patterns, first impressions" +description: "A book review of Robert Nystrom's Game Programming Patterns and how I use it in my tower defense prototype." +date: 2026-06-28 +type: books +book: "Game Programming Patterns" +tags: ["patterns", "books"] +--- + +*Game Programming Patterns* by Robert Nystrom is the reference I'm using as I build. The patterns aren't abstract; I'm already applying several of them in my [Odin tower defense prototype](https://github.com/Codegirl-Games/tower-defense-prototype). + +Here is where the book shows up in real code so far. + +## Patterns in the tower defense game + +### Object Pool + +Enemies and projectiles are never allocated per spawn. Both use fixed arrays (`[MAX_ENEMIES]Enemy`, `[MAX_PROJECTILES]Projectile`) with `acquire_enemy` and `acquire_projectile` scanning for inactive slots. A spawned unit resets its fields and sets `active = true`; on death or impact, `active = false` returns the slot to the pool. + +This was the first pattern I reached for, in week one. Every wave can spawn dozens of enemies and towers can fire many projectiles per second. Avoiding allocate/free in the hot path keeps the update loop predictable. + +### Command + +Player input goes through a command layer, not straight into game logic. `gather_commands` and `poll_controls_command` read keyboard and mouse state and return a `Command` value: `Place_Tower`, `Start_Wave`, `Upgrade_Tower`, or `None`. `execute_command` dispatches to the right handler. + +UI buttons, hotkeys, and mouse clicks all produce the same command type. Adding a new input source does not mean rewriting placement or wave logic. + +### Event Queue + +Gold changes do not happen inside combat code directly. When an enemy dies or a wave is cleared, systems call `push_event` with `Enemy_Killed` or `Wave_Survived`. At the end of `update_world`, `process_events` drains the queue and applies gold rewards. + +Combat systems announce what happened; the economy system decides what it costs. That separation kept the update loop readable as towers, waves, and enemy types piled on. + +### State + +The game runs in explicit phases: `Build`, `Combat`, `Game_Over`, and `Victory`. Phase controls what input is accepted (you cannot place towers during combat), when waves can start, and when the simulation stops updating. + +This is a straightforward state machine, not a deep AI behavior tree, but the same idea: one variable drives which rules apply this frame. + +### Update Method + +Each system owns an update function called once per frame from `update_world`: `update_wave`, `update_enemies`, `update_projectiles`, `update_towers`, `update_phase`. No single giant function walks every entity type inline. + +The book's "one game loop, many systems" structure maps cleanly onto separate `.odin` files as the project grew. + +### Game Loop + +`app.odin` runs the classic loop: read input, call `update_world`, render the map, entities, overlay, and controls. Update and draw stay separate; simulation code never calls draw functions. + +### Data Locality + +Enemies and projectiles live in contiguous fixed arrays rather than scattered heap allocations. I iterate the full pool each frame but skip inactive slots. Not as aggressive as a struct-of-arrays layout, but the fixed-buffer approach gives similar benefits: no pointer chasing, no allocator pressure during combat. + +### Type Object (archetype tables) + +Tower and enemy stats live in shared lookup tables (`TOWER_ARCHETYPES`, `ENEMY_DEF`), not duplicated on every instance. A placed tower stores its kind, position, cooldown, and upgrade level; range, damage, cost, and footprint come from the table row. + +Adding a cannon or a tank enemy is mostly a new table entry plus a behavior branch, not a new class hierarchy. + +### Subclass Sandbox + +Tower types differ by `switch t.kind` in `update_towers`: archers spawn homing projectiles, cannons fire ballistic shots with splash, ice towers apply slow on hit. I skipped inheritance trees in favor of enum variants and explicit branches. Nystrom argues this is the right call when you only have a handful of types and the differences are behavioral, not structural. + +### Spatial partition (grid) + +The map is a 2D tile grid (`Blocked`, `Path`, `Build`). Tower placement queries `can_build_at` and footprint overlap against grid cells, not against every entity on the map. A full spatial hash would be overkill at this scale; the grid already gives O(1) tile lookups for build rules. + +## What I have not used yet + +Patterns I expect to need later but have not implemented in this prototype: + +- **Pathfinding** for dynamic routes when tower placement blocks the path +- **Behavior trees** or a deeper **State** machine per enemy for complex AI +- **Observer** beyond the simple event queue (e.g. UI reacting to stat changes) +- **Component** or **Entity-Component-System** if entity types multiply significantly + +## Why I keep the book nearby + +Nystrom names the patterns, explains the tradeoffs, and shows when *not* to use them. That matches how I work: reach for Object Pool and Command early because the problem is obvious; hold off on ECS until the entity count justifies the complexity. + +Expect follow-up posts that go deeper on individual chapters as I apply more patterns to the tower defense game and the colony sim. diff --git a/content/posts/td-odin-week-1.md b/content/posts/td-odin-week-1.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb23f40 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/td-odin-week-1.md @@ -0,0 +1,56 @@ +--- +title: "Week 1: Tower defense in Odin, project kickoff" +description: "First week building my Odin tower defense prototype: grid map, object pool, commands, events, and a playable build/combat loop." +date: 2026-06-12 +type: devlog +series: tower-defense-prototype +series_order: 2 +languages: ["odin"] +tags: ["odin", "tower-defense", "devlog"] +--- + +First devlog in the tower defense series. This week I kicked off the [Odin prototype](https://github.com/Codegirl-Games/tower-defense-prototype) and went from a blank `main.odin` to a playable loop: build towers, start a wave, watch enemies walk the path, lose base health when they leak through. + +![Early map with build zone and L-shaped path](/images/tower-defense/td-week-1-map.png) + +## What I built + +**Day 1: map and loop.** Switched the project to Odin + Raylib. Added a fixed 30×20 tile grid with three tile kinds: blocked grass, a build zone, and a hand-authored L-shaped path. The game window is exactly map-sized (`MAP_W * TILE_SIZE`), and the main loop separates `update_world` from `render_world`. + +**Enemies that move.** Enemies spawn at the path start and step toward waypoints extracted from path tiles on the grid. Movement is simple vector math, no steering, no physics engine. + +**Object pool from day one.** Enemies live in a fixed `[MAX_ENEMIES]Enemy` array. `acquire_enemy` reuses inactive slots instead of allocating every spawn. This is the first [Game Programming Patterns](https://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/object-pool.html) idea I reached for, and it fit Odin naturally: explicit memory, no hidden allocations. + +**Commands and events.** Input goes through a small command layer (`Place_Tower`, `Start_Wave`). Gold changes go through an event queue (`Enemy_Killed`, `Wave_Survived`) so combat logic does not touch the economy directly. That separation made the update loop easier to read even before I had much gameplay. + +**Towers, waves, and phases.** By the end of the week I had one tower type (Archer) backed by a `Tower_Archetype` table: range, damage, fire rate, cost in one place. The game alternates between **Build** and **Combat** phases. Press `N` to start a wave; a spawner drips out enemies with scaling health and speed. Towers pick the nearest target in range and apply damage directly. Survive the wave, earn gold, place more towers. + +## What worked + +- Odin's struct enums and fixed arrays made the object pool straightforward, no fighting the language +- Data-driven tower archetypes: adding stats later did not require rewriting placement logic +- Command + event split kept `update_world` readable as systems piled on +- Raylib got something on screen fast; I spent the week on game logic, not boilerplate + +## What broke + +- **No projectiles yet.** Towers subtract health instantly. It plays, but it does not look or feel like a tower defense game yet +- **Path is not pathfinding.** `build_path` scans the grid for path tiles in row order. Fine for a hand-drawn map, useless once I want procedural levels or tower placement that reroutes enemies +- **HUD lives in the renderer.** Gold, base HP, wave count, and phase hints are drawn inline in `render_world`. Works for now, will get messy +- **Tower placement during combat.** The command gatherer had a duplicate mouse handler that let you place towers mid-fight. Small bug, easy miss + +## Repo snapshot + +By June 12 the `game/` package had separate files for map, path, enemies, towers, waves, events, commands, and rendering: about 450 lines added across the week. Not pretty, but the skeleton for every port (C, C++) is visible: fixed pools, explicit phases, data tables instead of inheritance trees. + +Next: projectiles, split out the HUD, and more tower types. + +
+ +
diff --git a/content/posts/td-odin-week-2.md b/content/posts/td-odin-week-2.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4aa7f28 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/td-odin-week-2.md @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ +--- +title: "Week 2: Projectiles, footprints, and a UI detour" +description: "Second week on the Odin tower defense prototype: homing projectiles, multi-tile towers, render split, and learning to stick with Raylib for UI." +date: 2026-06-19 +type: devlog +series: tower-defense-prototype +series_order: 3 +languages: ["odin"] +tags: ["odin", "tower-defense", "devlog"] +--- + +Week two on the [Odin prototype](https://github.com/Codegirl-Games/tower-defense-prototype). Last week ended with instant-hit archers and a keyboard-driven HUD. This week the game started to look like a tower defense: arrows fly, towers occupy real space on the grid, and I got my first proper UI, after a brief and expensive detour through third-party UI libraries. + +## What I built + +**Projectiles.** Archers no longer subtract health on the frame they fire. Towers spawn homing projectiles from a second object pool (`[MAX_PROJECTILES]Projectile`), track the target enemy by slot index, and deal damage on impact. Same pattern as the enemy pool from week one: acquire slot, reset fields, mark inactive when done. + +![Wave 1 combat with homing projectiles](/images/tower-defense/td-week-2-projectiles.png) + +**Render split.** `render_world` became a thin orchestrator: `render_map`, `render_enemies`, `render_towers`, `render_projectiles`. Each system owns its draw calls. Small refactor, big readability win as files grew. + +**Multi-tile towers.** Tower archetypes gained `footprint_w` and `footprint_h`. The archer is 1×2 tiles, taller than a single cell. Placement now checks whether the full rectangle fits on build tiles and does not overlap other towers. Rendering draws a gold rectangle sized to the footprint instead of a fixed 28×28 square. + +**Memory cleanup.** Added explicit `delete` calls for dynamic arrays (`path`, `towers`, `events`) when the game loop exits. Odin will not save you from leaking if you allocated with `append`. + +**Overlay bar.** Moved gold and base health out of scattered `DrawText` calls into `overlay.odin`, a top bar with consistent padding and colors. Wave count and combat hints stayed in `hud.odin` for now. + +**Control panel.** Bottom bar with clickable buttons: select Archer, start wave. `poll_controls_command` feeds into the existing command layer so UI clicks and keyboard shortcuts share one path. Added `utils.odin` with a reusable `draw_button` helper for centered labels. + +## What worked + +- Projectile pool mirrored the enemy pool: copy the pattern, ship faster +- Footprint-based placement forced me to think in grid coordinates early; multi-tower-type layouts will need this anyway +- Command layer absorbed UI input cleanly: buttons return `Command` values just like keyboard handlers +- Rip-and-replace on Clay was painful but left me with a simpler codebase than I started with + +## What broke + +- **UI library detour.** Tried ImGui bindings, then [Clay](https://github.com/nicklockwood/clay) for two days. Gold moved to Clay, start-wave became a Clay button, then I deleted all of it and rewrote the overlay in pure Raylib. Lesson: for a small game HUD, immediate-mode Raylib is enough. Do not import a layout engine until you have a layout problem. +- **Tower selection half-wired.** The Archer button sets `world.selected_tower`, but `execute_command` still hardcodes `.Archer` on placement. UI looks done; logic is not. +- **Split HUD.** Gold and health live in `overlay.odin`, wave/enemy count in `hud.odin`, controls in `controls.odin`. Three files for one screen; next cleanup pass needed. +- **Range bug (later fix).** A typo in the distance function made archer range longer than intended. Caught at the end of the week; fix landed June 26. + +## Repo snapshot + +June 13–19 added about 470 net lines across 18 files. New modules: `projectile.odin`, `overlay.odin`, `controls.odin`, `utils.odin`. Still one tower type, but the archer now shoots, occupies space, and has a shop button. + +Next: end screens, fullscreen, more tower types, and enemy variety. + diff --git a/content/posts/td-odin-week-3.md b/content/posts/td-odin-week-3.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3d3964e --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/td-odin-week-3.md @@ -0,0 +1,52 @@ +--- +title: "Week 3: Fullscreen, variety, and splash damage" +description: "Third week on the Odin tower defense prototype: end screens, render-to-texture scaling, three tower types, enemy archetypes, wave recipes, upgrades, and cannon splash." +date: 2026-06-26 +type: devlog +series: tower-defense-prototype +series_order: 4 +languages: ["odin"] +tags: ["odin", "tower-defense", "devlog"] +--- + +Week three on the [Odin prototype](https://github.com/Codegirl-Games/tower-defense-prototype). Week two left me with one tower, one enemy, and a HUD split across three files. This week the prototype started feeling like a game: win/lose screens, resizable fullscreen, three tower types, three enemy types, wave recipes, and cannons that splash. + +## What I built + +**End screens and unified overlay.** Added `endscreen.odin` for game over and victory overlays. Moved wave count and enemy totals into `overlay.odin` and deleted the leftover `hud.odin` split. One top bar for economy and combat status; end screens dim the world and show the result. + +**Fullscreen via render texture.** New `display.odin` renders the fixed 960×640 game world into a `RenderTexture`, then scales it to whatever window size the player uses. `F11` toggles fullscreen. Mouse coordinates go through `game_mouse()` so clicks still map to grid tiles when the viewport letterboxes. The game logic stays pixel-fixed; only presentation scales. + +**Three tower types.** Archer (homing arrows), Cannon (2×2 footprint, ballistic arc), Ice (slow effect, smaller footprint). Each has its own archetype row: cost, range, fire rate, footprint, upgrade caps. Shop buttons in `controls.odin` grew to match: select tower, click the map, place. + +**Tower preview.** Hovering the build grid while a tower is selected draws a ghost footprint before you commit gold. Small UX win that made placement feel less like guessing. + +**Enemy variety.** Replaced the single grunt with archetypes: Grunt, Runner (fast, fragile), Tank (slow, thick). Each scales health and speed with wave number and gets its own color. + +**Wave recipes.** Waves are no longer `5 + wave * 2` of the same enemy. `build_wave_recipe` returns an ordered list of `(kind, count)` entries: wave 1 is six grunts, wave 2 mixes grunts and runners, later waves add tanks. The spawner drips through the recipe entry by entry. + +**Tower upgrades.** Towers track `upgrade_level`. Stats scale via `tower_stats_at_level`: extra damage and range per level, paid from gold during build phase. + +**Ballistic projectiles and splash.** Projectiles gained a `Projectile_Mode`: homing for archers, ballistic for cannons. Cannon shots fly in a fixed direction; on impact they call `apply_splash_damage` in a radius defined on the archetype. First time area damage changed how I thought about placement: kill zones, not just single targets. + +**World refactor.** Split `World` into nested structs for economy, combat, and wave state. Gold and enemies moved out of flat fields. Cleaner ownership before more systems land. + +## What worked + +- Render-to-texture scaling solved fullscreen without rewriting every coordinate +- Enemy and tower archetype tables made adding Runner/Tank/Cannon mostly data changes +- Wave recipes are easy to read and tweak; no code change to reshuffle wave 3 +- Projectile modes reused the same pool; ballistic and homing share acquire/update/render paths + +## What broke + +- **Half-finished tower rollout.** Cannon and Ice landed before projectiles and shop buttons caught up; several commits of "no projectiles, no button" in the log +- **Wave recipe memory leak.** Forgetting to `delete` the old recipe before building a new spawner leaked dynamic arrays every wave start. Fixed same day +- **Path length check inside the enemy loop.** A `return` on short paths aborted the entire update instead of skipping one enemy. Moved the guard outside the loop +- **Range typo.** A bug in `distance` made archer range longer than intended, caught and fixed at the end of the week along with a range buff + +## Repo snapshot + +June 20–26 added about 650 net lines across 16 files. New modules: `display.odin`, `endscreen.odin`. Deleted: `hud.odin`. Three towers, three enemies, two projectile modes, and a win/lose loop. + +Next: tests, more refactors, and cleaning up the control panel as tower count grows. diff --git a/content/posts/td-odin-week-4.md b/content/posts/td-odin-week-4.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46166eb --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/td-odin-week-4.md @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +--- +title: "Week 4: Tests, refactors, and data tables" +description: "Fourth week on the Odin tower defense prototype: splitting tower placement, table-driven defs, first tests, and undoing a nested world refactor." +date: 2026-06-29 +type: devlog +series: tower-defense-prototype +series_order: 5 +languages: ["odin"] +tags: ["odin", "tower-defense", "devlog"] +--- + +Week four on the [Odin prototype](https://github.com/Codegirl-Games/tower-defense-prototype). Week three shipped fullscreen, three tower types, enemy variety, and splash damage. This week was quieter on features and heavier on structure: splitting files, pushing logic into data tables, and writing my first tests. + +## What I built + +**Split tower logic.** `tower.odin` had grown to handle combat, stats, rendering, and placement. I pulled placement into `tower_placement.odin`: footprint checks, overlap tests, `try_place_tower`, ghost preview. Combat and archetypes stay in `tower.odin`. Placement is geometry; combat is timing and targeting. Keeping them separate made both files easier to navigate. + +**Data tables over switch statements.** Several `get_*` functions became lookup tables: + +- `TILE_COLORS` replaced a `tile_color` switch +- `ENEMY_DEF` replaced per-kind switch logic with base stats, per-wave scaling, draw radius, and gold reward in one row per enemy +- Tower archetypes dropped a redundant `kind` field and gained a `color` column for rendering + +Tweaking tank gold from 5 to 10 or archer cost became a one-line edit instead of hunting through switch arms. + +**Constants consolidation.** UI layout lived in helper functions that recalculated button rectangles every frame. Moved to `constants.odin`: `ARCHER_BUTTON_RECT`, `START_WAVE_BUTTON_RECT`, `STARTING_GOLD`, `STARTING_BASE_HEALTH`, overlay colors, control bar dimensions. `controls.odin` got shorter and the layout stopped drifting. + +**First tests.** Added `math2d_test.odin` (distance, `move_toward`) and `wave_test.odin` (start wave, clear wave, recipe progression). Small suite, but it caught a wave recipe memory leak during gold rebalancing: the kind of bug I'd fixed once by hand and reintroduced during a refactor. + +**Economy pass.** Gold rewards moved into enemy definitions. Tank kills pay more than grunts. Tower costs live in archetype rows. Balanced enough to play-test without obvious snowball or stall. + +**World struct simplified.** Flattened `base_health` and map init into cleaner helpers. Started the week by reverting the nested `Economy` / `Combat` / `Wave` sub-structs from week three, back to a flat `World` with direct field access. + +## What worked + +- Splitting placement from combat scaled better as tower logic grew +- Table-driven defs made adding and tuning enemy/tower stats mostly data changes +- Tests paid for themselves immediately on wave spawner edge cases +- Flat `World` struct was easier to reason about than nested sub-structs for a game this size + +## What broke + +- **Nested world refactor, reverted.** Week three split `World` into `Economy`, `Combat`, and `Wave` sub-structs. Looked clean on paper. Every system suddenly needed `world.combat.enemies` instead of `world.enemies`, accessors multiplied, and nothing got simpler. Reverted on June 27. Don't refactor structure until the current shape is actually hurting you, and wait until you have tests. + +- **Test cleanup is manual.** Odin tests that allocate dynamic arrays need explicit `defer delete`. Forgot once; leak showed up in the test runner, not the game. + +## Repo snapshot + +June 27–29 touched 14 files, ~490 net lines. New modules: `tower_placement.odin`, `math2d_test.odin`, `wave_test.odin`. Three towers, three enemies, wave recipes, upgrades, splash damage, fullscreen, end screens, plus a test suite to build on. + +Next: pathfinding, more tower shop wiring, ice slow polish, and whatever breaks once I add a fourth tower type. diff --git a/content/posts/theprimeagen-spire-deckbuilder.md b/content/posts/theprimeagen-spire-deckbuilder.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2d08fe --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/theprimeagen-spire-deckbuilder.md @@ -0,0 +1,125 @@ +--- +title: "Building a browser deckbuilder in vanilla JavaScript" +description: "How a birthday gift became a 6,000-line roguelike deckbuilder: state machines, commands, data tables, and what the commit history looks like when you ship anyway." +date: 2026-07-04 +type: lesson +languages: ["javascript"] +tags: ["javascript", "patterns", "deckbuilder", "web"] +--- + +Last year I built a parody *Slay the Spire* game in the browser as a birthday gift for [ThePrimeagen](https://www.twitch.tv/theprimeagen). It started as a joke. The [repo](https://github.com/codegirl-007/theprimeagen-spire) ended up at ~6,400 lines of JavaScript across 60 files, with two acts, dozens of cards, community-written birthday messages, and a full roguelike loop you can play without a build step. + +You can play it at theprimeagenbirthday.com. + +This post is not a feature tour. It is how the project was built, what the git history actually shows, and where *Game Programming Patterns* shows up outside my Odin prototypes. + +## What shipped + +The game is a static site: `index.html`, ES modules, CSS split by screen. No React, no bundler in production (npm was added briefly for tests, then removed). + +The loop matches StS closely enough to feel familiar: + +- Branching map with battles, elites, shops, rest sites, and events +- Turn-based combat with energy, block, weak/vulnerable, and intents +- Deck building: strike/defend staples plus dev-themed cards (`Terminal Coffee Rush`, `Production Deploy`, `Code Review`) +- Relics with hook functions (`onTurnStart`, `onDamageTaken`, etc.) +- Two acts with different enemy rosters and map layouts +- Win/lose screens, mid-run saves to `localStorage`, and a pre-launch countdown that blocked play until September 9, 2025 + +The flavor is extremely online. Enemies are stream/community in-jokes. Events quote Lewis and Tolkien. The victory screen unlocks birthday messages from people who sent notes for Prime. That part is personal. The architecture underneath is reusable. + +## What the commits look like + +There are 88 commits from August 30, 2025 to March 11, 2026. Rough phases: + +**Week one (Aug 30–Sep 2): gameplay exists.** The initial commit already added ~7,600 lines: map, battle engine, card UI, styling. After that it was iteration: card costs, enemy tuning, keyboard vs mouse fixes, double-tap to play cards, swipe sounds, acts, and a commit literally titled `think this is the final gameplay commit`. + +**Week two (Sep 3–Sep 10): content and polish.** Birthday messages landed in batches (`Birthday Messages`, `phpeepee!`, `casey!`, `DHH!`, `ken wheeler and AOP`). Bug fixes for deck initialization, event HP/energy leaks, block reset between turns. UI passes on the battle screen and welcome message. Balance commits: `nerf act 2`, `nerf dax`, `Un-nerf act 2w`. + +**Week two, structure (Sep 8):** `implement state machine`. Gameplay was already there; this commit extracted map, battle, shop, rest, event, victory, defeat, and relic selection into discrete states. That refactor made the rest of the project maintainable. + +**Quiet period, then March 2027 prep.** From September to March the repo sat mostly idle. Then a concentrated refactor week: split client vs shared code, moved data files, serialized shop/reward state for future networking, WebP assets, save behavior fixes (`fix block leak between enemy turn`), and a 1,700-line Cloudflare co-op design doc (`tutorial.md`) for authoritative multiplayer later. + +The history is not a clean agile epic. It is burst development, meme commit messages, and a second pass when you already know the game works. + +## Architecture that held up + +### State machine for screens + +`GameStateMachine` registers one class per screen: `MAP`, `BATTLE`, `REWARD`, `SHOP`, `REST`, `EVENT`, `VICTORY`, `DEFEAT`, `RELIC_SELECTION`. Each state implements `enter`, `exit`, `render`, and optional save/restore hooks. + +Battle mid-run resume works because `BattleState.getSaveData()` persists the enemy, flags, and `battleInProgress`. On load, bootstrap checks whether you were mid-fight and routes back into combat instead of dropping you on the map with orphaned state. + +This is the same *State* pattern I use for Build/Combat phases in the [tower defense prototype](https://github.com/Codegirl-Games/tower-defense-prototype), applied to UI flow instead of simulation phases. + +### Command pattern for input + +Player actions go through command objects (`PlayCardCommand`, `EndTurnCommand`, `MapMoveCommand`, etc.) executed by a `CommandInvoker`. Keyboard shortcuts, mouse clicks, and shop buttons all funnel into the same paths. + +That separation mattered when input got fancy: single number press raises a card, double press plays it. InputManager handles code review picks, shop purchases, and map navigation without duplicating game rules in event listeners. + +### Data tables for content + +Cards, enemies, relics, and map nodes live in plain JS objects: + +```javascript +coffee_rush: { + id: "coffee_rush", + name: "Terminal Coffee Rush", + cost: 0, + type: "skill", + effect: (ctx) => { /* ... */ }, +} +``` + +Adding content means adding rows, not subclass trees. Enemy AI is mostly `(turn) => ({ type, value })` functions. Relics use optional hook objects. The `Code Review` card sets `pendingCodeReview` on the root; battle render and InputManager know how to show the pick-one-of-three overlay. + +Same idea as `TOWER_ARCHETYPES` and `ENEMY_DEF` in Odin: behavior stays in code, stats and identity stay in tables. + +### Shared vs client split (March refactor) + +Late refactors moved simulation-ish code under `src/shared/` (`engine/`, `data/`, `game/`) and kept DOM/render/input under `src/client/`. The goal was a future where a Cloudflare Durable Object owns authoritative state while the browser keeps rendering. + +Multiplayer never shipped. The split still made the codebase easier to reason about: battle math does not live beside `innerHTML` templates. + +## Bugs the commits keep fixing + +Roguelikes hide nasty state bugs. This repo is no exception: + +- **Block leaking between turns.** Fixed in separate commits for player and enemy turn boundaries. Block must reset at turn start; missing one side means silent damage inflation. +- **Mid-battle saves.** Saving `_battleInProgress`, enemy HP, and hand state to `localStorage`, then restoring on reload. Easy to get wrong when most testing happens in one sitting. +- **Event modifiers vs combat.** `fix health bug and energy bug inside events` shows how one-shot screens can corrupt run state if they touch player stats outside the battle engine's expectations. + +The `?screen=battle` and `?screen=shop` URL params plus mock player data in `bootstrap.js` were added so individual screens could be tested without playing to them every time. Worth copying for any UI-heavy browser game. + +## Performance passes + +Late commits focused on load and layout cost: WebP conversion, dropping aggressive image preload, caching swipe sound, reducing layout churn during battle animations. For a static birthday game, this was optional polish. For a public deploy on slow mobile networks, it matters. + +## How this connects to my other work + +I keep [*Game Programming Patterns*](https://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/) nearby while building the Odin prototypes. This JavaScript project applies several of the same ideas in a different shape: + +| Pattern | Here | Tower defense (Odin) | +|---|---|---| +| State | Screen flow (map, battle, shop) | Build / Combat / Game Over | +| Command | PlayCard, EndTurn, MapMove | Place_Tower, Start_Wave | +| Update method | Per-state `render()` + battle engine steps | `update_enemies`, `update_towers`, etc. | +| Data locality | Plain objects, shuffle/draw on arrays | Fixed pools, archetype tables | + +Different language, same instinct: separate input from rules, separate screens from simulation, push content into data. + +## What I would do differently + +- **State machine earlier.** Gameplay landed first; the refactor on Sep 8 touched 15 files. Starting with states would have hurt day-one momentum but saved mid-project pain. +- **Smaller render files from the start.** `render.js` was enormous before feature folders (`battleRender`, `mapRender`, etc.) split it up. +- **Link the live site in the README.** The game runs at theprimeagenbirthday.com; the repo should say that up front next to the clone instructions. +- **Move the repo under the studio org.** It still lives at `codegirl-007/theprimeagen-spire`; my prototypes now live under [Codegirl-Games](https://github.com/Codegirl-Games). + +## Worth a post? + +Yes, but as a lesson, not a weekly devlog. There is no neat week-by-week timeline after launch week. The value is architectural: how far vanilla JS gets you, what patterns transfer to Odin, and an honest commit log that includes `Ligma balls` next to `implement state machine`. + +Play at theprimeagenbirthday.com. To explore the code, start at `src/client/app/bootstrap.js` for the state registration, `src/shared/engine/battle.js` for combat rules, and `src/shared/data/cards.js` for content shape. Multiplayer design notes are in `tutorial.md` if you want to see the planned next step that never left the design doc. + +The game was a gift. The structure is the part worth stealing for the next project. diff --git a/hugo.toml b/hugo.toml index b643baf..0c52d50 100644 --- a/hugo.toml +++ b/hugo.toml @@ -1,13 +1,13 @@ baseURL = 'https://codegirl.games/' -languageCode = 'en-us' +languageCode = 'en-me' title = 'codegirl.games' theme = 'codegirl' [params] logo = 'codegirl.games' logo_image = '/images/logo.png' - description = 'We build affordable games and teach the craft along the way — documenting every step in public.' - tagline = 'Affordable games. Built in public.' + description = 'I build games and show the craft along the way, documenting every step in public.' + tagline = 'Building games and showing what I learn' author = 'Codegirl Games' [markup] diff --git a/static/clips/.gitkeep b/static/clips/.gitkeep new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e69de29 diff --git a/static/images/logo.png b/static/images/logo.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7d1ba2e Binary files /dev/null and b/static/images/logo.png differ diff --git a/static/images/tower-defense/td-week-1-map.png b/static/images/tower-defense/td-week-1-map.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1207865 Binary files /dev/null and b/static/images/tower-defense/td-week-1-map.png differ diff --git a/static/images/tower-defense/td-week-2-projectiles.png b/static/images/tower-defense/td-week-2-projectiles.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..26d14d7 Binary files /dev/null and b/static/images/tower-defense/td-week-2-projectiles.png differ diff --git a/themes/codegirl/layouts/_default/single.html b/themes/codegirl/layouts/_default/single.html index 4708ad2..2638456 100644 --- a/themes/codegirl/layouts/_default/single.html +++ b/themes/codegirl/layouts/_default/single.html @@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ {{ end }} {{ if and .Params.book .Params.chapter }} -

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+

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