Final Project Option: Breakout

Breakout is a popular extension to the first cabinet arcade game, Pong, that was designed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the founders of Apple, Inc. It was such a big hit that, to this day, it is still spawning additional game spin-offs in the form of the game Arkanoid. These games build on the basic premise of Breakout, clearing a field of bricks, but add elements of every other game imaginable. Simple versions of this game have been used as a assignment in many introductory programming courses and so is highly regarded by educators as "nifty".

You can play a basic version online.

Part of its continuing appeal is how easily the game supports complex variants, such as:

• Super Breakout: power ups such as multi-ball triggers and laser shots from the paddle
• Brick Breaker Escape: includes coins and inventive power-up options and level changes
• Circus: the paddle is a seesaw for performers to jump up and pop balloons, with jumps based on where on the seesaw you land
• Bricks n Balls: adds mechanics of aim, tap, and shoot from Bubble Shooter games to create a puzzle game feel
• Jet Ball: variety of bricks that move in interesting patterns, advertised as "the most challenging brick-breaker in the app store"
• Centipong: the moving centipede is the bricks and when they are hit it generates more balls
• Brick Breaker Hero: few, but interesting, blocks but incorporates boss enemies as the primary goal
• Devilish: a scrolling version of the game, where clearing the bricks just opens up the passage allowing you to the fly through
• Fairy Treasure: amazingly beautiful, fantasy version of the game with many different kinds of balls, power ups, blocks, and other kinds of obstacles
• Programming Assignment from Purdue: circular world with circular blocks creates different bounces and strategies
• Here is a (long) video of the original Arkanoid game play and here is an entire YouTube channel devoted to it!

Study these for their ideas, not their appearance or level of sophistication. Your game does not need to be the greatest variant created, or even have sophisticated graphics, but it should include multiple levels, each of whose configuration of bricks is read from a file, each of which implement different variations with different kinds of bricks, power ups, and scoring opportunities.

Your game should be distinctly different from any given examples you find (i.e., create your own Breakout game, do not simply copy one).