For some time now, I’ve wanted to work on an extended project just for my own practice. I went ahead and started on one this weekend, which was pong. I’ve written a basic pong game before in python. I decided to do it over in javascript. My goal is to go beyond creating the basic game and keep adding features and re-factoring. Hopefully I’ll end up maintaining a more complex codebase than what I’ve been working with in class.

Yesterday I put in a few hours and produced a Minimum Viable Product. It’s not even a good implementation yet, but it is functional. The ball bounces off of the top and bottom of the screen, as well as off of paddles. If the ball hits the side where there is no paddle, the player on the opposite side scores a point and the ball re-spawns. What it doesn’t do is increase the ball speed over time or adjust the ball angle based on how a paddle hits it. Also, it’s too fine of a line between hitting the ball with the edge of a paddle and missing entirely. These are the tweaks I intend to work on next. After I get that set up, I’ll get it uploaded and linked from this site.