Build Roadmaps

Each roadmap is a progressive build series — starting simple and layering on complexity. Every step is a playable game with a blog post that explains the game dev concept and what the AI got right or wrong. Built for beginners. 📚 Pipeline Lessons →

Early 1970s — Arcade

5 steps · ~32 min · ~26K tok · ~$0.07

Pong

Paddle collision, ball physics, scoring, AI opponent, two-player mode, Web Audio sounds. The complete Pong — built with AI in 5 steps.

Phaser.jsComplete

Late 1970s — Atari

5 steps · ~16 min · ~13K tok · ~$0.04

Breakout

Brick grids, angle-based 5-zone paddle physics, 3 power-ups, progressive difficulty across 3 layouts, localStorage high scores. Complete with bot mode.

Phaser.jsComplete

5 steps · ~32 min · ~26K tok · ~$0.07

Gun Fight

Cover-based duelling, bullet collision, AI reaction timing, destructible obstacles. Teaches hitbox design and reactive enemy AI.

ShooterCompletePreview

Space Invaders

Shooter

Arrays, wave management, collision grids, difficulty curves. The simplest entry point for absolute beginners.

Space Wars

Shooter

Two-player vector spaceship combat, rotation & thrust physics, projectile timing, gravity wells. Teaches rotation-based movement and momentum.

Missile Command

Shoot / Defend

Mouse-aimed missile defense, multi-target tracking, progressive difficulty waves, score-chaining. Teaches mouse input, screen zones, and resource management.

Tank Combat

Multiplayer Shooter

2-player tank battles, projectile physics, maze walls, ricochet, and multiple game modes. The Atari 2600's iconic launch title.

Asteroids

Arcade

Rotation-based movement, inertia, wrap-around screens, splitting objects, vector-style rendering.

Pitfall!

Platformer

Side-scrolling jungle platformer, swinging vines, rolling logs, crocodile hitboxes, pit traps, treasure hunting under a 20-minute timer. Teaches scrolling levels, sprite animation, and timed exploration.

Adventure

Action-Adventure

Top-down exploration with multi-screen castles, item inventory (sword, key, magnet), dragon AI, and the first Easter egg in gaming history. Teaches screen transition maps and stateful object interaction.

Oregon Trail

Educational / Survival

Resource management, random event systems, turn-based travel, inventory tracking. One of the most influential games in computing history.

1980s — 2D NES

Frogger

Action / Puzzle

Lane-based grid movement, timed traffic patterns, river riding hazards, risk-reward scoring.

Galaga

Fixed Shooter

Formation patterns, dive-bomb AI, tractor beam capture mechanic, dual-ship bonus, challenging stages.

Centipede

Arcade

Vertical shooter with mushroom terrain, segmented enemy destruction, screen-scrolling bug swarms. Teaches terrain modification and hitbox segmentation.

Tetris

Puzzle

Grid-based logic, piece rotation (SRS wall kicks), line clearing, gravity, hold/preview. The ultimate grid math teacher.

Robotron: 2084

Twin-Stick Shooter

Dual-stick arena shooter, independent move/aim, wave-based enemy spawning, score multiplier chaining. Teaches twin-input architecture and wave balancing.

Dig Dug

Arcade

Tunnel-digging action, terrain modification, pump-to-pop enemy mechanics, rock-drop physics. Teaches tile-based terrain editing and enemy pathfinding.

Donkey Kong

Platformer

Multi-level scaffolding, ladder mechanics, barrel physics, hammer power-up, the original damsel-in-distress story.

Pac-Man

Maze / Chase

Maze navigation, pathfinding, ghost AI with distinct personalities, power pellets, state machines.

Q*bert

Puzzle

Isometric puzzle platformer, colour-flipping tiles, enemy pattern AI, jump-between-cubes movement. Teaches isometric projection math and grid-walking.

Defender

Side Scroller

Side-scrolling shooter with radar display, terrain mapping, abductee rescue, smart bomb mechanics. Teaches scrolling levels and secondary HUD.

Battlezone

Tank Combat

Wireframe 3D first-person tank combat with vector graphics rendering, radar-based enemy tracking, terrain obstacles, geometric enemy tanks (slow, fast, homing). Teaches wireframe 3D projection math and line-of-sight targeting — first 3D game on the roadmap.

Tempest

Tube Shooter

Pseudo-3D tube/edge shooter with geometric enemy types (flippers, pulsars, tanks), web-of-lines rendering, per-level color palettes, spinning cannon, superzapper. Teaches tube-perspective 3D projection on 2D canvas — completely unique visual system.

Punch-Out!!

Sports / Fighting

Pattern-recognition boxing, character-specific AI with tells and weaknesses, timing-based dodge/punch windows, knockdown-count referee system, health/star-punch meters. Teaches boss AI state machines and hit-react combat design.

Double Dragon

Beat 'Em Up

Side-scrolling beat 'em up with 2-player co-op, enemy gang variety (punks, whip wielders, grapple fighters), weapon pickups (bat, knife, dynamite), punch/knee/elbow combos, elbow smash, stage-based progression. Teaches side-scrolling combat AI and co-op beat 'em up design — first beat 'em up on the roadmap.

Contra

Run & Gun

8-directional shooting, weapon pickups, co-op, enemy wave patterns, multi-phase bosses, Konami Code.

Gauntlet

Dungeon Crawler

Top-down 4-player dungeon crawler with horde enemy spawning from generators, food/health management, keys and locked doors, potions (speed, hurt, poison), shot-reflect walls, treasure rooms, inter-level stairwells. Teaches multi-directional shooting, horde management AI, and generator-based enemy waves — first dungeon crawler.

Marble Madness

Physics / Racing

Isometric marble rolling with momentum-based physics, tilted surfaces affecting roll speed, timer pressure per level, enemy marbles and birds, checkpoints, ramps and drops. Teaches isometric physics simulation and tilt-based momentum systems — first physics-based game on the roadmap.

Castlevania

Action-Platformer

Gothic whip-combat platformer, sub-weapons (dagger, axe, holy water, boomerang), knockback physics, stair climbing, candle farming, Medusa heads, multi-phase boss fights. Teaches tiered weapon management and precision platforming with commitment physics.

Mario Clone

Platformer

Tilemaps, enemy AI, power-up state machines, level design. From scrolling platformer to SMB 1-1.

Mega Man

Action

Stage select, boss AI with distinct attack patterns, weapon stealing system, weakness chains.

The Legend of Zelda

Action-Adventure

Top-down overworld exploration, multi-screen dungeon maps, item progression (sword, bombs, boomerang), puzzle locks, boss fights with pattern weaknesses. Teaches screen-transition maps, stateful inventories, and interconnected world design.

Metroid

Action-Exploration

Side-scrolling non-linear exploration, ability-gated paths (morph ball, missiles, varia suit), map reveal system, secret rooms, backtracking loops. Teaches Metroidvania level design and power-up progression gating.

Early 1990s — 2D SNES, Game Boy

Kirby's Dream Land

Platformer

Float/hover mechanic with near-infinite vertical hang time, inhale/suck enemies as projectiles, breakable star blocks, beginner-friendly difficulty curve. Teaches airborne movement physics and vacuum-action mechanics.

Super Mario Kart

Racing

Mode 7 top-down kart racing, drift/tuck physics, 4-item distribution system (mushroom, shell, banana, star), rubber-band AI, cup tournaments, time trials, battle mode. Teaches racing physics, item RNG balancing, and rubber-band difficulty curves.

Super Mario Land 2

Platformer

Hub world with non-linear level select, unique physics (shorter jump, floatier gravity), Wario as antagonist, carrot power-ups, 6 golden coins. Teaches hub world design and boss-key progression outside linear level order.

Wario Land

Platformer

Treasure-hunting platformer with invincibility (enemies cost coins, not lives), unique power-ups (bull rush, dragon breath, spring jump, tiny Wario), secret exits, coin-based progression. Teaches economy-driven game design and invincibility-as-risk mechanics.

Street Fighter II

Fighting

Frame-based input, hitbox/hurtbox collision, combo systems, input buffering, AI opponent behavior trees.

Donkey Kong Country

Platformer

Pre-rendered 3D-on-2D graphics, mine cart levels with timing jumps, barrel cannons, animal buddies (Rambi charge, Enguarde swim, Squawks light), Diddy piggyback swap, hidden DK coins. Teaches sprite-atlas animation and buddy-swap mechanics.

Yoshi's Island

Platformer

Egg-throwing with projectile arc aim, Baby Mario escort (timer = loss), flutter jump, ground pound, transformation power-ups (helicopter, mole tank, submarine), hand-drawn art aesthetic, multi-hit enemies, star collection. Teaches projectile arc physics and escort-AI design.

Late 1990s — 3D PlayStation 1, N64, Game Boy Color

Rayman

Platformer

2D side-scrolling platformer with hair helicopter hover, ledge-grab climbing, bouncy spring physics, checkered skyline art, cage-collection progression, mosquito flying levels. Teaches floaty physics platforming distinct from Mario's tight precision — airborne momentum and extended hang-time design.

Paper Mario

RPG

Turn-based combat with timed action commands (button-press for bonus damage/guard), partner party system with unique abilities, overworld exploration with paper-themed puzzles, star point leveling, badge equipment. Teaches timing-based battle systems and lightweight RPG progression design.

Metal Gear Solid

Stealth

Top-down stealth action with line-of-sight cone AI, guard patrol routes, radar detection states, cardboard box disguise, stairwell alerts, codec calls, boss patterns. Teaches stealth game architecture — vision cones, sound detection, and threat-response state machines.

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

Puzzle-Platformer

2D side-scrolling puzzle-platformer with enemy possession via chanting, Mudokon escort/rescue, stealth chases, lever/pulley puzzles, speech-bubble communication. Teaches possession-based puzzle design and escort mission pacing — completely unique mechanic.

Diablo

Action RPG

Top-down action RPG with procedural dungeon generation, randomized loot tables (affixes, damage ranges, magic find), skill trees, tristram hub, chamber-of-light identify, skeleton/zombie/demon enemy variety. Teaches procedural content generation and loot-system architecture — first action RPG on the roadmap.

Super Smash Bros.

Platform Fighter

Damage-percent knockback physics, edge-guarding, platform-hopping recovery, 4-player item matches, directional DI influence, classic 1P mode with Master Hand. Teaches knockback scaling, blast-zone math, and platform fighter movement.

Final Fantasy Tactics

Tactical RPG

Isometric turn-based grid combat with elevation advantage, job class system (squire, knight, black mage, ninja), permadeath, faith/brave stats, crystal/item management. Teaches grid-based tactical AI, elevation math, and class progression trees — first strategy RPG on the roadmap.

DOOM-Like

FPS

Raycasting engine, 3D projection from 2D maps, sprite-based enemies, weapon systems, keycard doors.

Age of Empires II

RTS

2D real-time strategy with 4 resources (wood, food, gold, stone), unit counter system, tech tree progression across 4 ages, building placement grid, siege weapons, villager AI, map exploration. Teaches RTS resource economy, unit pathfinding, and tech-tree balance — first RTS on the roadmap.

RollerCoaster Tycoon

Management Sim

Isometric theme park simulation with guest AI (happiness, hunger, nausea), coaster construction physics (drop height, G-force, speed ratings), staff management, pathfinding crowds, park rating system. Teaches agent-based simulation and construction physics — first management sim on the roadmap.

Early 2000s — PlayStation 2, Gamecube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance

Rhythm Heaven

Rhythm

Beat-matching minigame collection, timing-window grading (OK/Good/Perfect), visual cue + audio cue sync, score-chaining across sets. Teaches rhythm-system architecture and audio-visual synchronization patterns.

WarioWare: Touched!

Microgames

5-second microgame collection, rapid state-switching game engine, speed escalation with combo multiplier, boss games at set thresholds. Teaches ultra-short game loop design and difficulty ramping curves.

Professor Layton

Puzzle-Adventure

Point-and-click exploration with hotspot interaction, puzzle-dispatching system with hint coin economy, narrative framing of puzzles, sliding/manhole/maze brain teaser variety. Teaches puzzle delivery architecture and story-driven puzzle pacing.

Lego Star Wars

Action-Platformer

Character-swapping action-platformer, stud collection economy, breakable Lego construction puzzles, local 2-player co-op with shared screen, vehicle levels. Teaches character-switch puzzle design and co-op level layout.

Star Wars: KOTOR

RPG

Top-down party-based RPG with turn-based combat, lightsaber customization (color crystals, emitter types), dark side / light side alignment with branching consequences, companion characters with loyalty arcs, dialogue trees. Teaches morality system architecture, party-based combat AI, and branching narrative design.

Trending — Viral & Clone

Slice It All

Arcade / Reaction

Tap-to-flip knife slicing game — arc-throw physics collision, combo chaining for multi-slice streaks, progressive speed curve, endless high-score chase. Cloned from the Voodoo hyper-casual hit with 84K+ reviews. Teaches arc-physics collision detection, combo-chain timing, and difficulty-curve tuning.

Block Blast

Puzzle

Drag-and-drop block puzzle — fill rows and columns to clear them, combo chain scoring, 3 game modes (classic, bomb, rainbow), infinite play. Cloned from the #1 most downloaded mobile game worldwide (300M+ downloads). Teaches grid-based drag-drop mechanics and combo systems.

Ladder Master

Endless Runner

Color-matching endless runner — side-scrolling character collects ladders matching your assigned color, avoids obstacles of wrong colors, reaches pot of gold at the end. Viral on TikTok with millions of views. Teaches color-based collision filtering, procedural obstacle generation, and speed-curve difficulty ramping.

Monkey Mart

Tycoon / Management

Jungle supermarket tycoon — plant and harvest crops, process them into products (wheat to flour to bread), stock shelves, serve customers, hire helper monkeys, expand mart locations. Top 5 on Poki and CrazyGames. Teaches production chain state machines, NPC pathfinding AI, and economy progression loops.

Dots and Boxes

Strategy / Board

Line-drawing grid game — claim squares by completing 1×1 boxes, AI opponent with minimax strategy, turn-based competitive scoring, progressive grid sizes. Viral resurgence as "A New Era" in 2026. Teaches turn-based AI strategy, grid-state evaluation, and scoring optimization.

Arrows Puzzle

Logic Puzzle

Grid-based directional puzzle — tap arrows in sequence to clear the board, path validation algorithm, progressive level complexity. Viral on TikTok in 2026. Teaches grid navigation, directional logic, and level generation.

Strands

Word Search

Themed word search on a 6×8 grid — connect adjacent letters to find hidden words, "spangram" mechanic using all edges, daily puzzle format. Teaches grid traversal, themed word placement, and adjacency algorithms.

Crazy Motorcycle

Endless Racer

Lane-based traffic dodger — switch between lanes to avoid oncoming cars and barriers, collect coins for score, progressive speed increase, tap-to-jump over low obstacles. Viral on TikTok with millions of views. Teaches lane-based collision detection, procedural obstacle spawning, speed-curve difficulty ramping, and score persistence.

Geometry Dash

Rhythm / Arcade

One-button rhythm platformer — auto-scrolling obstacle course, tap-to-jump over spikes and blocks in time with music, instant restart loop, progressive difficulty across levels. Viral TikTok speedrun phenomenon with 609M+ downloads. Teaches one-button input handling, rhythm-synced obstacle spawning, and instant-restart loop design.

2048

Puzzle / Number

Slide-tile merge puzzle on a 4×4 grid — swipe to move all tiles in a direction, matching numbers combine into doubles, reach 2048 to win. Viral social media challenge resurgence in 2026. Teaches grid-state management, swipe/touch input handling, tile animation, and score-progression balancing.

Water Sort

Puzzle

Color-sorting flask puzzle — tap to pour colored liquids between flasks, matching colors on top or empty destinations only, until each flask holds one color. Viral browser puzzle trending 2026. Teaches stack-based state management, conditional transfer logic, and undo mechanics.

Soccer Superstar

Arcade / Sports

Tap-and-drag penalty shootout — aim trajectory with drag angle, ball follows projectile arc with gravity, AI goalkeeper with reaction patterns, escalating trick-shot obstacles. #5 most-downloaded mobile game July 2026. Teaches trajectory aiming, projectile physics, AI goalie state machines, and obstacle-based level design.

Board Games

Connect Four

Strategy

Drop-piece grid game with gravity physics, 4-in-a-row win detection (horizontal, vertical, diagonal), 2-player hot-seat, AI opponent. Teaches collision detection and win-state algorithms.

Reversi (Othello)

Strategy

Grid-based piece-flipping game with valid-move detection, flanking logic, corner-weight AI heuristics, 2-player and AI modes. Teaches board-state evaluation and heuristic-based AI.

Battleship

Strategy

2-player grid warfare with ship placement phase, coordinate targeting, hit/miss tracking, ship-sinking detection, probability-based AI targeting. Teaches grid coordinate systems and search-pattern AI.

Sudoku

Puzzle

9x9 grid with row/column/box constraint validation, number input modes (pencil marks, final values), hint system, auto-check, difficulty-based puzzle generation. Teaches constraint validation and backtracking solver algorithms.

Solitaire (Klondike)

Card

Full Klondike Solitaire with drag-drop card movement, alternating color stacking, tableau-to-foundation progression, draw-3 stock, undo history, win detection. Teaches card state management and drag-drop interaction.

Chess

Strategy

Full chess implementation with all piece movement rules, check/checkmate detection, castling, en passant, promotion, minimax AI with alpha-beta pruning. Teaches grid-based movement, rule validation, and turn-based AI.

Word Games

Hangman

Word Puzzle

Classic word guessing with progressive gallows drawing, wrong letter tracking, category-based word lists, hint system, score persistence. Teaches state progression and turn-based input handling.

Word Search

Word Puzzle

Letter grid with hidden words in all 8 directions, word highlighting on find, progressive difficulty (bigger grids, more words), category-themed puzzles. Teaches directional string matching and grid traversal.

Wordle

Word Puzzle

5-letter word guessing with color-coded feedback (green = correct, yellow = present, gray = absent), letter frequency tracking, keyboard state display, word validation against dictionary, daily puzzle mode. Teaches string matching algorithms and keyboard state management.

Spelling Bee

Word Puzzle

NYT-style word game with 7 hexagonal letters, center-letter requirement, minimum 4-letter words, pangram detection, point-tier ranking (Genius, Queen Bee), word list validation. Teaches hexagonal grid layout and dictionary substring matching.

Boggle

Word Puzzle

4x4 letter grid with 3-minute timer, adjacent-letter word finding, duplicate word detection, score-by-length system, shake-and-replace grid. Teaches adjacency traversal algorithms and real-time timer game loops.

Scrabble

Word Strategy

Tile-based crossword building on 15x15 grid with letter scores, premium squares (DL, TL, DW, TW), tile bag management, word validation, 2-player hot-seat, turn scoring with 7-tile bonus. Teaches grid layout, tile management, and word-matching against dictionary.

Card Games

Blackjack

Card

21 game with dealer AI (hit/stand on soft 17), split pairs, double down, insurance, card counting tracker, chip-based betting system. Teaches AI decision trees and score-threshold logic.

Poker (Texas Hold'em)

Card Strategy

Full Texas Hold'em with hand ranking evaluation (pair, flush, straight, full house), betting rounds (pre-flop, flop, turn, river), AI opponents with bluff logic, chip management, fold/call/raise mechanics. Teaches hand evaluation algorithms and betting-state machines.

2010s+ — PC, Mobile & Modern

Vampire Survivors

Auto-Shooter Roguelite

Automatic-attack roguelite with weapon evolution through combining max-level items, exponential enemy scaling over 30-min runs, gold/meta progression between runs, passive buff pool. Teaches exponential power curve design and weapon fusion systems — first auto-shooter on the roadmap.

Papers, Please

Simulation

Border inspection document sim with rule-based pattern matching, daily living cost pressure (heat/food/rent), ethical branching narrative, forged document detection, multi-day story arcs. Teaches rule-based puzzle generation and moral-choice economics — completely unique genre.

Slay the Spire

Deck-Building Roguelike

Card-based deck-building roguelike with mana economy, procedural encounter maps, relic passive bonuses, card rarity tiers, 4 character classes with distinct mechanics. Teaches card game balance and procedural encounter design — first deck-builder on the roadmap.

Battle Royale (2D)

Battle Royale

Top-down survival shooter with shrinking safe zone, procedural loot drops, parachute landing phase, kill-feed tracking, last-man-standing win condition. Teaches circle-based game state, loot table RNG, and elimination-tournament game loops — the genre that defined 2017+ multiplayer.

Boss Rush

Action / Boss Fight

Multi-phase boss arena with distinct attack patterns (telegraph, wind-up, strike, recovery), phase transitions at HP thresholds, dodge-rolling, part-breaking, loot-from-boss crafting drops. Teaches boss state machines, phase-gate design, and pattern-recognition combat — inspired by Monster Hunter and Souls-likes.

Stardew Valley

Life / Farming Sim

2D farming sim with crop growth cycles across 4 seasons, NPC heart-based relationship system, fishing mini-game, mining/combat in procedural caves, animal husbandry, artisan goods. Teaches time-management game loops and NPC relationship state machines — first life sim on the roadmap.

Minecraft (2D)

Sandbox / Survival

2D block-based sandbox with procedural terrain generation, block breaking/placing, crafting recipes (workbench, furnace, tools), day/night cycle with monster spawning, health/hunger systems, mining ores. Teaches procedural world gen and crafting tree systems — first sandbox on the roadmap.

Palworld Clone (2D)

Creature Collecting / Survival

2D creature-capture adventure with throwable capture spheres, tamed creatures assigned to base tasks (mining, farming, crafting), creature combat with type effectiveness, open-world exploration, base building with resource nodes. Teaches entity-component capture mechanics, NPC task-assignment AI, and creature-stat progression — the 2024 viral indie hit.

Factorio

Automation Sim

2D factory automation with conveyor belt routing, inserter logic, assembly machine recipes, resource smelting chains, research tree, electricity grid management, biter enemy attacks. Teaches systems engineering and production chain optimization — first automation sim on the roadmap.

Idle Clicker (Cookie Clicker)

Incremental / Idle

Click-to-earn incremental with exponential cost scaling, passive income generators (grandma, farm, mine), upgrade synergies, prestige reset mechanic, stat tracking. Teaches exponential math balancing and idle game progression loops — the genre that launched a thousand clones.

Among Us (2D Local)

Social Deduction

Top-down crewmate vs imposter with task-completion objectives, sabotage mechanics (lights, O2, reactor), vent traversal, emergency meetings with vote-kick system, local hot-seat imposter rounds. Teaches real-time state broadcasting and role-based asymmetric game design — the pandemic-era cultural phenomenon.

Roguelike (Binding of Isaac)

Action Roguelike

Top-down procedural dungeon crawler with room-by-room combat, tear-based ranged attacks, passive item synergies, treasure room / shop / boss room distribution, permadeath with meta-unlock progression. Teaches procedural room generation, item synergy architecture, and permadeath progression systems — the game that defined modern roguelikes.

Emulators / Systems

CHIP-8 Emulator

Retro Emulator

CPU fetch-decode-execute cycle, memory-mapped I/O, display rendering, opcode table. Build an interpreter for the 1970s virtual machine that powered homebrew games — one opcode at a time. Teaches CPU emulation fundamentals transferable to Game Boy, NES, and beyond.