Code Your First Game: Arcade Classic in JavaScript on Canvas Free Course

★★★★★

Program a complete game today. No special software or install required. All you need is a text editor and a web browser.

What Will I Learn?

• Display, position, and move filled shapes for retro and prototype gameplay
• Move a ball around your game space such that it bounces off boundaries
• Handle real-time mouse input
• Detect and respond to simple collisions
• Program very basic artificial intelligence
• Keep and display score during play
• Understand the subtle, key difference between a classic game in this style which is fun to play versus one that isn't
• Define and code a win condition and end state for your game

Requirements

• Very early on students will need to show file extensions in their operating system (explained briefly in the video)
• If a plain text editor is available that has programming features like line numbers and auto-indent (ex. Notepad++ on PC, TextWrangler on Mac) that may be handy but is not necessary, as a generic text editor like Notepad or TextEdit will work fine for a program of this size

Target audience

• This is for anyone who wants a quick but thorough introduction to simple game programming in a way that doesn't require any special software, download, or installation
• If you've had at least a little exposure to generic programming concepts like variables, functions, and if-statements you'll have an advantage, however in case you've never heard those terms they're explained briefly as they come up
• Although this a uses JavaScript and HTML5, it is not intended for someone who is focused on learning HTML5/JS for web page design