Here's the first video game created by our 2025 cohort at Programmers Guild! 

Target Painter is a simple point and click gallery shooter. The goals for this project were to learn the fundamentals of game programming and an introduction to Object Oriented Programming techniques. Each programmer has to show an understanding of the problems, then conduct tiny experiments to solve them.

It's a simple game and a pretty ideal target to hit for Novice programmers!

Here's the result, and we couldn't be prouder of their progress! You can review the source code from our website.

From Beginner to Novice

This game is the work of young adults whose first experience with coding in ANY language began April 14th. We used the Pyxel game engine, a Pico-8 inspired game development tool that's perfect for beginners, but powerful in the hands of more advanced programmers. 

The challenges were as follows:

  1. The player must be able to shoot targets and score points.
  2. Targets disappear if not hit within a set amount of time.
  3. Targets are randomly generated and placed.
  4. Targets come in varying sizes.
  5. Targets must always spawn on the screen. No clipping!
  6. Shooting a target makes a sound.
  7. Add game music.
  8. Player should be able to start over once time is up.

Within 3 days, all tasks were complete.

Testing the Results

During training, we always provide unit tests to get everyone started. You can call it TDD, but really its about setting up strong guidance. Tests provide a really great lever to begin solving problems when you're a beginner with no experience building software. Tests make the goals of the software clear to them.

Once the basic tests are passing, we encourage them to get creative about solving problems and adding their own features. This kind of exploration leads to accelerated learning, as they chase their own goals using the knowledge they have.

For example, Team 1 decided to use circular targets and Team 2 square targets. While the general task of detecting an accurate shot is the same for both, the geometries are drawn differently. This meant each team had to come up with their own logic to solve the same problem.

This is only their first video game! You can learn more about their training at programmers-guild.org

Published 8 days ago
StatusReleased
PlatformsHTML5
AuthorProgrammers Guild
GenreAction
TagsPixel Art, pyxel

Download

Download
pyxel-target-painter-feature-group1.zip 16 kB
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pyxel-target-painter-G1.html 5.9 kB