Breakout

In late 1999 I was a self-taught, unemployed C programmer with no job prospects. I'd heard that Open Source software was a good way to find a job (way before recruiting people based on their GitHub profile was a thing) and decided to put together something I could be proud of.

I chose to create a Breakout clone using GNOME/GTK, a UI system for Linux and other Unix variants. As this was my showcase piece, I opted to make sure it was well documented and used autoconf to make sure it built well on many different systems.

Nearly a year later I applied for a role at a small ISP in Adelaide and sent this along with a cover letter and a short resume. The additional polish landed me the role: the CTO hired me because "it worked flawlessly on his FreeBSD system."

Learning Unity, I wanted a self-contained project I could use to explore Unity's physics, particle system, and 3D engine. I decided to re-implement GNOME Breakout. I chose to make as many of my own assets as I could using MagicaVoxel, and I needed to add my own physics as Unity's engine isn't well suited to the extremely fake "physics" you'd find in a Breakout clone.

I'm not sure what I'll do next with this project.