I wanted to learn Box2D just in case I need it for the main Ludum Dare. Then I thought, hey, you know what’s really simple and what I’ve just been working on? Pong! And the competition is still open? WOOO!

I’d done Blorf Pong (a WebGL game) as a joke but I thought I could probably at least put in *some* effort.

Box2D in javascript is a hellish nightmare – using a library automatically converted to Javascript from the C++ – it’s not pretty. It’s taken me a day but I’ve finally got the hang of it – enough to add pistons to the paddles which makes the basic Pong game a lot more interesting and bizarrely tactical.

I also decided to fine tune the AI a little bit too. It’s all driven by impulses through the physics engine now, so the AI is now “perfect” except for doesn’t quite have the level of accuracy it might want. It *can* be beaten but you have to be really quick.

On the visual side I thought I’d add some particles as well. Because particles.

On a mission to get @llamasoft_ox to leave me all his sheep. Blorf Pong, now with added blorf! http://t.co/lJ8jUSeNOu

— Totes Inapprops (@CharlotteGore) March 30, 2015

Am very happy with Box2D but feeding it data is going to be a problem so I probably won’t be able to sort anything out before the next Ludum Dare, but the one after… hope so! Really looking forward to the next Ludum Dare now. Probably won’t be making another game like this for a while though. 😛