Posted September 27, 2025 by edenwaith
This is it, the 1.0.0 release of Pyro PD.
This version contains all of the features initially planned when this project started out as a game jam entry back in April 2025.
The biggest improvement for this version over the previous release is that the fireworks arc in the sky versus go in a straight line. This took a fair amount of experimentation and playing around with a lot of geometry and trigonometry in my initial attempts to determine how to draw out a proper arc for the firework animation path. After a number of setbacks, I ended up switching to another form of math: Bezier Curves, something which I learned more about in my university graphics classes than something from a high school math course. Using Bezier curves to determine the arc was a far more elegant method than trying to calculate the arc of a circle. At some point, I'd like to go into further depth about the options I tried: what worked and what didn't.
I don't foresee too many other improvements or additions I'd like to make to this project besides adding some additional sounds for the fireworks, or perhaps add an About Screen to the project. This was a fun, small project for the Playdate, which further expanded my knowledge and skills to develop for this platform. I have at least another six game ideas planned for the Playdate, and I am excited to start working on the next batch of ideas.
The source code for this project is available at my GitHub repo.