It all started back in April 2022, when my computer science teacher introduced me and the rest of the class to something called makecode arcade. I immediately fell in love with the simplicity and versatility of the engine, and had a feeling this would be the start of something much, much bigger. After I did some tutorials and made a few test games, I eventually settled on my very first big platformer, Spring Breakout. At the time, this was a relatively basic platformer where you could jump, wall jump, glide, and that was it. I never got around to finishing it, but shortly after, I stumbled across the makecode forums. after I found out about this place, I posted what i had done with spring breakout and i hit the ground running. Everyone loved my game and wanted to know how I did it. For the first time in years, I was popular.
Spring breakout went on to be the foundation of my next big game, project: hoplings. This was going to be the biggest project yet, and the movement was similar to SBO, but different enough to be its own game. After I made the first demo, it did way better than I ever thought it would. But unfortunately, after I kept working and working, trying to make it better and better, it eventually got too big and I couldn’t open it anymore, akin to a balloon popping after being pumped full of too much air. And so, I had to start from scratch…
