About Retro Clones

Retro Clones is an effort to develop a catalog of game development tutorials based on classic video games. I try to create clones that a beginning game developer can use to understand foundational principles of professional game development.

Approach

There are as many ways to build a video game as there are video games to build. What approach should a service that aims to teach game development take? At Retro Clones, my goal is to provide smart, organized code that leans into best practices while avoiding overly complicated solutions - except where a learning opportunity exists.

Principles

Every retro game tutorial I offer is developed with the following principles in mind:

• Write clean code that is easy to understand
• Use commenting to assist with clarity
• Take an object oriented approach
• Use game design patterns when possible
• Be open to public feedback and update work accordingly

Transperancy

It's important for users to know I'm not a game developer by trade. Mostly, I'm a person who loves video games and enjoys tackling complicated challenges and learning new skills. With that in mind...

Things I've Done

• Studied mathematics, mechanical engineering, and computer science in college
• Taught high school computer science courses (including a JavaScript game development course)
• Worked in a marketing capacity for a successful video game company
• Played lots of video games

Things I Have Not Done

• Worked as a professional software developer
• Worked as a professional game developer
• Developed my own, original game