I started a game design class last week that uses C# and Unity. So far the class has not moved much (it’s online and I am constantly checking for updates, but there haven’t been any – have I mentioned how much I dislike online classes?). So, to get moving, I have been following along with a great tutorial on youtube by quill18 for making a clone of the Atari game, Breakout.

This is a terrific place to start, because this game was Steve Jobs’ assignment at Atari, which he famously subcontracted to Steve Wozniak. Both Woz, in his book iWoz, and Jobs, through his biography by Isaacson, describe this anecdote as one of the first major collaborations between the two.

Additionally, it can be completely cloned with only minimal coding.

I’ve followed along fairly well, but suddenly, my objects don’t interact with one another (meaning the ball doesn’t bounce off the bricks) and I’ll be damned if I can figure out why.

Since I’m not teaching any biology this summer, I thought I would blog a little more on my coding ventures. If anyone else is out there working on similar material, I’d love to hear from you.