We’re making a lot of great headway with the project. Currently the ball bounces off the moveable paddle and hits and destroys blocks. The only basic functionality left before we start worrying about more advanced functions is to make the ball bounce off the paddle differently depending on where on the paddle the ball hits. This is proving to be a little more tricky, as it doesn’t strictly obey the laws of physics. For example, if the ball hits the paddle near the edge of the paddle, the ball may bounce off the same direction it came, regardless of whether or not objects and reflections actually work like that. This means that we need to write C# code on top of the physics engine. This isn’t a big problem, as until now we have written very little code, building the game only with the game and physics engine tools available to us. Also, it’s an opportunity to relearn about tangents and normal lines, which I haven’t thought of in years.
Creating this game is turning out to be genuinely fun. I could see myself designing a game in my free time or as a career. After all, many people create a piece of software in their free time to generate income. This is like that, only way more fun. I can create something I would actually want to play. After all, who wants to create an Enterprise Resource Planner when you can create the next World of Warcraft (or RuneScape, let’s temper our expectations)?
I’m excited to begin working with neural nets for the Machine Learning part of this project. I have no idea how they work but I know they’re all the rage. Just today I read neural nets were how they de-aged Luke Skywalker on The Book of Boba Fett. And, I’m only 40% certain I saw that article because I said “neural net” alone in my own home, within listening distance of my phone.
The next few weeks should be exciting. I’ll be out of town this weekend, so I likely won’t make much progress, but after that, we can begin working on getting the angle of reflection worked out, the start and end screens, and then the person vs. ML computer games. Fun times are ahead.
