Learn to Program in Javascript by Building BASIC Javascript Games!

For our next meetup we will program the following game:

GAME #1 -- STRIKE NINE (one player vs. computer)

Description:

1. The player has a game board with all numbers from 1-9 visible (inclusive).

2. The computer rolls two six-sided dice and presents the TOTAL to the player.

3. The player then may remove ANY combination of one or more numbers from his or her board that add up to TOTAL.

For example, if computer rolls a TOTAL of 9, player can choose to remove any of the following combinations: [9 ] , [1 ,8], [2,7], [1,2,6], [2,3,4], etc.

4. The numbers so chosen are then permanently removed from play.

5. Once this is done, the computer rolls again and play continues.

PLAYER WINS if he or she removes all their numbers from the board.

PLAYER LOSES if the computer rolls a total that the player cannot remove with the numbers remaining on their board.

I like this game because there is a simple, straightforward logic to it, and there are lots of ways to incorporate buttons, simple event handlers, toggles to change whether a number is still available for play or not, etc. that force the developer to learn basic DOM manipulation techniques.

If you want to think about the problem before showing up to the meetup that is ok but certainly not necessary. The point of this meetup is to sit down in groups and learn what you need to learn to attack the problem(s) at hand then and there!

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MEETUP DESCRIPTION

This is a meetup for people who'd like to build up a nice Javascript portfolio to show but are relatively new to the language.

Format as follows:

Every week we'll break up into groups to implement ONE different short game program in Javascript.

Games will be drawn from the more interesting ones described in

BASIC Computer Games (http://www.amazon.com/BASIC-Computer-Games-Microcomputer-Edition/dp/0894800523)

and

More BASIC Computer Games (http://www.amazon.com/More-Basic-Computer-Games-David/dp/0894801376/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398969294&sr=1-1)

I specifically picked these books because all the programs contained in them are compact since they were written to run on computers from ~40 years ago!

(No need to buy those books particularly unless you really want to debug BASIC programs!)

I think with group effort and whiteboarding most of the code for each program can be worked out in one session. However, I still think the problems have value to beginning JS coders like myself w.r.t. both learning how to write good functional javascript and understanding basic DOM manipulation.

This meetup will probably be most suitable for beginning JS learners who already know another language . It will be helpful to have your favorite javascript reference book handy for each meetup , and I expect Stack Overflow to get plenty of traffic from us over the course of each meetup!

ALL ARE WELCOME. Please join us!