Brick Breaker — C++

A playable 3D Brick Breaker with the same table, controls and rules as the Visual Script, C# and AngelScript versions. The 24 bricks, ball, paddle, rails, lights, and camera are created in C++. All artwork is procedural; no external art pack or physics plugin is required.

Requirements

Windows, Plasma Engine 0.12.0, a C++ toolchain supported by PlasmaBuild (the Visual Studio C++ build tools), and plasmabuild on PATH. The Plasma Launcher's Dependencies page installs the last two.

Get the project from the Plasma Launcher's Samples page (BrickBreaker, C++), or clone this repository and use Add Existing Project. The first time the editor opens it, it offers to install GameUI 1.4.1, which is listed in Editor/Packages.ddl. Accept, and it is installed into the project's Plugins folder, where the C++ build finds its headers and libraries.

Build and play

.\Build.ps1 -Test -Run

Or double-click Play.cmd. The script generates a Visual Studio workspace, builds the plugin and game, optionally runs the mechanics tests, transforms this project's assets through EditorProcessor, and launches the game. Use -SkipAssetTransform only for code-only iterations after a successful initial asset transform.

The script uses the engine the launcher assigned to this project; pass -SdkRoot 'C:\path\to\engine' to use another. It uses the GameUI package the editor installed; pass -GameUiRoot with a built package or source checkout instead. Configuration must match the engine binaries (Development by default).

The executable is Binaries/Windows_Development/BrickBreakerGame.exe in the engine folder, and the GameUI runtime DLL is copied beside it. Build.ps1 -Run passes -project with this folder so the game loads this copy. Close the running game before rebuilding.

Controls and objective

Action	Control
Move paddle	A / D or left / right arrows
Launch docked ball	Space or left click
Pause / resume	P or Escape
Restart entire round	R
Exit standalone window	Close window or Alt+F4

Clear all 24 bricks for 2,400 points. A missed ball consumes one of three lives; surviving bricks and score remain until restart. Each brick increases ball speed slightly, up to a cap. A new life restores the initial ball speed. Contact near the paddle edges sends the ball further sideways; a central contact sends it straight up the table.

Where to make changes

• CppSource/BrickBreakerPlugin/Gameplay/BrickBreakerSimulation.h: layout, speeds, lives, scoring, swept collisions, and round state. The fixed 120 Hz simulation is independent of rendering.
• CppSource/BrickBreakerPlugin/GameState/BrickBreakerGameState.cpp: procedural 3D table, palette, lights, camera, input, and the GameUI blackboard values.
• RenderPipelines/BrickBreaker.plRenderPipelineAsset: editable forward render graph, including the GUI rendering stage.
• UI/BrickBreakerHUD.plUiDocumentAsset: anchored GameUI panels, text, counters, and prompt bindings.
• UI/HudData.plBlackboardTemplateAsset: HUD binding contract and editor preview defaults.
• UI/HudFont.plUiFontAsset: font baked from the engine's PT Root UI font.
• Materials/: plain engine materials used by the generated meshes.
• CppSource/BrickBreakerTests/BrickBreakerTests.cpp: mechanics regression checks and a reproducible complete game.

First exercise: change PaddleSpeed from 16 to 12, rebuild, and compare control. Change the three RowColors in the game state to explore a different art direction.

Things to know

• Scenes/Main.plScene is an empty launch scene: the game state builds the table when the game runs, so the editor shows nothing until you play. The other language versions use an authored scene instead.
• The plugin and game keep fixed BrickBreaker names and build into the engine's Binaries folder, so build one copy of this project at a time.
• Physics is deliberately kinematic: the ball is swept against expanded box bounds on the horizontal table plane. This avoids a physics package dependency, but brick corners use conservative box bounds rather than exact sphere/rounded-corner contacts.
• SetupMainView loads the transformed BrickBreaker pipeline by asset UUID. Passes and connections are authored in the pipeline asset; no render graph is constructed by the game. A plUiCanvasComponent loads the HUD document, and gameplay publishes score, lives, remaining bricks, and prompt values to a blackboard. Layout uses a reference height of 900 with viewport anchors.

Screenshot capture

The game accepts -reviewScreenshot :bin/BrickBreakerReview.png to capture after 240 frames and exit; the image lands in the engine's binary folder. Override the delay with -reviewFrames 1800. Optional -reviewLog takes an absolute log path. With -reviewScreenshot, -reviewState playing|paused|won|lost applies a HUD fixture at frame 120 so the capture shows that state.