Hey there, fellow coders and game enthusiasts! ? Ever thought about mixing the nostalgia of ASCII art with the adrenaline rush of Flappy Bird? Well, I did, and it turned out to be a fascinating journey. Here’s the story of how I built “Minimal Bird,” a minimalist ASCII version of the legendary Flappy Bird game.
The Why
First off, why even bother with ASCII art in 2023, right? Well, ASCII art has a certain retro charm. Plus, it’s a great exercise in coding—you have to think creatively within limitations. So, why not bring ASCII art to the masses (or at least to those of us still stuck in the ’90s, metaphorically speaking)?
The Tech Stack
I kept it simple: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. That’s it. No fancy frameworks, no over-the-top graphics—just good ol’ front-end basics. This way, the game is super lightweight and can run on just about any device.
The Design: Keeping It Simple
The UI is straightforward. You’ve got a welcome screen with the game’s title and instructions. You can also select the difficulty level—Easy, Medium, or Hard. When you click “Start,” you’re off to the races, dodging pipes as a cute ASCII art bird represented by an asterisk (*).
The Gameplay
You control the bird’s elevation by tapping the screen or hitting the spacebar. Pipes appear as vertical bars (|), and the bird has to navigate through the openings. The screen updates in real-time, offering a rather smooth gaming experience despite the simplicity.
Mobile-Friendly? Check ✔️
One of the challenges was making the game mobile-friendly. ASCII art isn’t exactly known for its responsiveness, but with a bit of CSS magic, the game now scales well on mobile devices. I also ensured that the game responds to both mouse clicks and screen taps, covering all the bases.
Challenges and Learning Points
- Restart Button: Ah, the pesky restart button gave me a bit of a headache. Turned out, the event listener needed some fine-tuning, but hey, it’s all part of the journey.
- Difficulty Levels: Implementing varying levels of difficulty was an interesting exercise in game dynamics.
- User Experience: Striking the right balance between retro and user-friendly was tricky but totally worth it.
The Code: Under the Hood
Alright, you’ve made it this far, so you’re probably itching to see some code snippets, aren’t you? Let’s dive right in!
HTML Structure
The HTML is pretty straightforward. Here’s the skeleton:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Minimal Bird</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
</head>
<body>
<div id="welcomeScreen" class="screen">
<!-- Welcome Screen Content -->
</div>
<pre id="gameScreen" class="screen hidden">
</pre>
<script src="script.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Styling with CSS
CSS is used mainly for layout and scaling. For instance:
body {
font-family: "Courier New", monospace;
background-color: black;
color: white;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
text-align: center;
}
JavaScript Magic
JavaScript is where the real action happens. We use a game loop to update the game state:
function startGame() {
birdY = 12;
pipeX = 40;
score = 0;
gameInterval = setInterval(function() {
// Update bird and pipe positions
// Collision detection
// Draw the updated game
}, 200);
}
And that’s just scratching the surface. The complete source code is packed with more goodies!
Interested in the complete code? You can download it and take a closer look.
The Final Product
In the end, I had a working ASCII art Flappy Bird game that’s not only a cool coding project but also genuinely fun to play. And guess what? You can download and try it out yourself!
Conclusion
So there you have it—how I built Minimal Bird, a simple ASCII art version of Flappy Bird. Honestly, it was a good coding exercise, and hey, it works. If you’re into coding or just want to kill some time, you might want to give it a shot. Or not. Up to you, really.
Until next time. Take it easy.
