Sven's Dev Journal

Shmup Devlog #4 - Collisions, Part Deux

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Fast bullets were tunneling straight through enemies undetected. This post digs into why, and adds a swept collision test for every pair the simple check misses.

Shmup Devlog #3 - Collisions

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This post is about benchmarking the collision detection system, comparing the brute-force approach to a spatial hash grid approach.

Shmup Devlog #2 - One Life Closer to Game Over

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This post is about player lifes, re-spawning, game over, score and pre-shot animations

Shmup Devlog #1 - Weapons, Upgrades, and Damage Mechanics

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article is about the weapons, upgrades, and damage mechanics

Shmup Devlog #0 - No Plan, Just Bullets

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve always wanted to make a game. But I always thought that it would be too difficult. Then, one day, I thought “It can’t be that hard, right? Right?!”

Loosely Coupled Game Architecture with Events and Commands

Sat, 10 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article introduces events and commands as a way to decouple game components. A (very) basic space shooter example illustrates how the pattern can be applied in practice.

Framework-Independent Game Logic with Hexagonal Architecture

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Implementing a classic table tennis game using MonoGame, but making it so, that the game logic is independent of the framework using Hexagonal Architecture.

A* Pathfinding in 2D Games: Addendum about Cyclic Dependencies

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Putting the grid navigation in its own class to avoid a cyclic dependency and to improve separation of concerns.

A* Pathfinding in 2D Games: From Top-Down to Side-View

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Implementing the A* algorithm for pathfinding in a 2D side-scrolling platformer with gravity, ladders and hanging bars.

A* Pathfinding in 2D Games: A Simple Top-Down Scenario Implemented with MonoGame/KNI

Sat, 24 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In this article we will have a look at the implementation of the A* algorithm from the previous post with KNI, a MonoGame derivate with support for BlazorGL.

A* Pathfinding in 2D Games: The Basics for a Simple Top-Down Scenario

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This article introduces the implementation of A* pathfinding in a 2D top-down game, setting the stage for more complex applications in side-scrolling platformers.

Using Hugo with Mermaid without client-side JavaScript

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Convert Mermaid diagrams to SVG at build time to shift the burden of rendering diagrams from the client’s browser to the server.