The story

I built Asteroids in 2019 while studying Automotive Engineering Technology at BYU-Idaho — nowhere near a computer science program. This was my only computer science class ever, taken purely as an elective outside my major, and this game was my final project for it. It was also my first time writing Python and my first time building a video game, using the Arcade library on top of a class-provided starting framework.

I built it entirely on my own, with no AI assistance — this was years before that was an option for coursework like this. I learned the language and the library from scratch over the semester, largely by trial and error, and ended up finishing a fully playable game with wraparound movement, asteroid collisions, and a shield/scoring system.

It turned out to be the highest-graded game project in the class, exceeding the assignment's expectations by a wide margin. I ended up excelling in the course overall — helping a number of other students who were struggling with the material along the way — and finished with a 112% final grade after extra credit.