Free · Season 1
Game Dev From Zero
A free beginner series: how games really work, from the very first frame. Every episode comes with a demo you can play with.
No experience needed. Watch an episode, then open its demo and break things: that's the fastest way to learn.
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Episode 1
What actually happens when you run a game?
One Frame, Step by Step: Pause a real game loop and watch input, update and draw happen one at a time.
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Episode 2
Variables: how a game remembers everything
Variables Playground: Type real lines of code and watch a tiny game change.
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Episode 3
Let's build a game loop from scratch
Loop Lab: Build a game loop, then break it: switch lines off and swap their order.
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Episode 4
Delta time: why your game runs too fast on fast computers
Delta Race: Race three computers at different frame rates, with delta on and off.
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Episode 5
Coordinates: where is everything on the screen?
Coordinate Hunt: Point at any pixel to see its address, and find a hidden spot.
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Episode 6
Let's build player movement from scratch
Drive the Ghost: Move a character with four ifs, and find out why diagonal is faster.
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Episode 7
Vectors: the math behind game movement
Arrow Lab: Build a direction arrow from the keys and switch normalize on and off.
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Episode 8
Acceleration & friction: movement that feels good
Feel Lab: Drag the sliders and invent your own game feel.
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Episode 9
Gravity & jumping from scratch
Jump Lab: Tune jump power and gravity, and see why a jump uses 'was pressed'.
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Episode 10
Collision detection from scratch
Tiny Platformer: The season 1 finale: turn on the hitboxes and read every line of code.
The game behind the lessons
PALE WHISPERS
The little ghost in every episode is from our game. A ghost has forty days to remember a life. Every soul is a choice. If the series helps you, a wishlist really helps us.
Season 2 is coming: we build a whole little game, one idea at a time.