Resources, downloads and community for Brian Beuken's game development books
UPDATE 17 May 2025: Added holding content for B1 and B2 chapters to allow outline content and updates, more important for B1 as the book code is now quite different and needs to be explained. Otherwise the chapters will be short explinations with code snippits and when needed a video tut.
Also added some nice student content to the Fun section. And added download counters for Pi3 and P4 downloads as well as fixing the visitor counter on downloads
UPDATE 16 May 2025: Ok most of the holding content is in place, the site is largely function but still incomplete, I will add content regularly until its fully featured.
UPDATE 15 May 2025: There are now a lot of Book 2 holding pages using a new template I've set up. The content is not currently all working and it's all WIP so don't expect too much functionality yet and some of it will get removed.
I had to nuke the forums again, sorry... but I think it's all fixed now and you can sign up and use them. We'll see how quick the trolls jump in.
I will be updating the Pi3 content 1st to make use of a new general template that allows for PC/Pi3 and PC/Pi4/Pi5 cross building. I can't do much about the deprecation of the 1st edition content, but I will try to explain how the new code can replace the old examples with mostly the same results.
A Pi3 (and 4/5 but with GLES2.0) test demo is currently available on the pi3 content page. You will need the latest Raspberry OS (Bookworm). It also runs on 99% of PCs.. instructions to come soon.
A new forum has been started. I will keep trying to recover the old one but I think it's beyond saving. The new Forum is here.
Press here to check out updates on latest Raspberry Pi Projects from me on my Patreon site (free to sign up).
The website is being reformatted. I will try to bring you the new version ASAP. In the meantime, contact Brian at brianbeuken5@gmail.com if you need help.
Notice: The website is undergoing rebuild. Not all content is in place or active at this point.
Scratchpad Games is the informal trading name for Game Developer, Brian Beuken. It is primarily here to provide support for his Fundamentals of C/C++ Game Programming books. The site contains useful tips and tricks, links to download code content and some video content on different aspects of the books.
Over time it should also include some project content from readers of the book and hopefully create a 1-stop resource for all new game programmers wishing to develop their skills.
I've been writing Games for over 43(gulp) years, on all kinds of systems, and have over 75 projects published, some good, some bad, and a couple of bloody terrible ones, but when you are a contract coder you can't always get to pick the good titles. In that time I've built up a lot of experience which I now pass on to a new generation of coders by teaching at Breda University of Applied Sciences, IGAD program in Breda, The Netherlands, which has been my home since 2008. By teaching many 100's of brand new students I've found ways to get them interested and excited about coding and worked out ways to move them beyond just learning languages so they can start to understand and enjoy some of the more challenging aspects of game development.
In Feb/March 2018 My book, The Fundamentals of C/C++ Game Programming: Using Target-based Development on SBC's was released, which allowed me to share some of these teaching ideas and get more new game developers interested in the nuts and bolts of game development and not rely on Engines to do all the work for them.
In 2024, I was asked to update the book, and was very happy to do so, as the 1st edition sadly became a little outdated by the release of the Raspberry Pi4 which had a different graphic set up from the older Pi3. Much of the Pi3 content in the book has now deprecated for all but the most staunch lovers of the 2018-2020 era of Raspbian OS. The new book attempts to overcome that rapid deprecation, by having more generic code that does not depend on the Pi's specific graphic systems and with the addition of a PC build that emulates the Pi3/4/5 graphic methods.
The second edition is available in Sept/Oct 2025, and complete Pi4/5 code will be available when it is launched
I have provided updated code content for the Pi3 for users of the 1st edition, which will allow them to continue to work through the book, even though the code is now a little different, the basic methods and frameworks remain much the same, so all we need is a little adaptability to work through the 1st edition and a few extra pages of specific Pi3 content on this site will explain where that adaptability is needed.
If you bought either book, please take the time to register on the forums, say hello, and feel free to ask for help if you need it. I will respond as quickly as I can to all questions.
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Screen shots and book images in colour
Book Starter Code
If the book tells you to download code, get it from here
More complex examples of the book code
For brevity the book code is minimal, here you can find enhanced versions of the book samples with annotated improvements which were a little too complex to squeeze in the book.
Corrections and Improvements
Its a big book, and lets be honest I was making a lot of it up as I went along so there are bound to be a lot of errors, or fixes for things I didn't know how to fix at the time. They will be listed here
Games, Demo, Tools and Samples
I'll add a few fun things over time using the book code as foundation.
More Games, Tools and Samples
If you write some games using the book code, please feel free to send them here and we can let others look at your code.
More Tiny Beasts that Play Games
I spent quite some time putting together a small collection of other SBC's here I'll outline any issues I had getting them to run the book projects.
A small outline of how to optimise GPU access