Gravity-swapping platformer VVVVVV is 10 years previous as of as we speak. For this huge birthday, creator Terry Cavanagh is releasing its supply code without spending a dime. You can dig into the heart of a breakout indie game from the booming years of the 4:three facet ratio which could really be a extra fascinating prospect than it sounds.
Over the years, VVVVVV’s difficult platforming has impressed different related challenges like MMMMMM. It has had high quality of life updates and a cell port. It appeared within the speedrunning marathon AGDQ earlier as we speak. Folks appear to nonetheless adore it, 10 years on.
Cavanagh needed to do one thing particular for such an enormous anniversary, and has chosen to open up its supply code. By Cavanagh’s personal phrases in his blog post, VVVVVV “is not a technically sophisticated game.” In truth, he goes as far as to say “even by the standards of self taught indie devs, it’s kind of a mess.”
So why the supply code for a 10 yr previous game then? It’s a kind of relic—historic alongside the comparatively brief timeline of video game historical past—value a little bit of research if game growth pursuits you. VVVVVV bears the indicators of a game first developed in Flash after which later ported with all of its oddities intact, Cavanagh explains.
“Maybe the best thing about VVVVVV’s source code is that is stands as proof of what you can hack together even if you’re not much of a programmer,” he says. Despite the sluggish loss of life of Flash, the place VVVVVV was initially made, games prefer it now have extra methods than ever to be birthed into existence.
The non-programmers of as we speak have instruments like GameMaker Studio, Bitsy, GB Studio, and so many others to construct games with visible editors that may be expanded on with data of precise programming languages.
VVVVVV’s supply code might function lesson in what’s potential, or perhaps a cautionary story on how not to program issues, for people studying to make games for the primary time a decade later. Additionally, you may tinker with the supply code your self and redistribute your experiments supplied you observe the principles in its license.
As one other birthday current, followers and different builders have organized a celebration game jam “eVVVVVVent” encouraging others to make their very own ranges for VVVVVV.
If you by no means tried VVVVVV final decade, you could find it on Steam, Itch, and Humble nowadays. You can obtain and take a peek at its supply code over on GitHub. As Cavanagh explains on Twitter, entry to the supply code implies that you’re additionally welcome to obtain and compile a model of VVVVVV in your machine to play fully free.
