Chest · Games & worlds

Arcade

A retro game console in C++ where games and screens are plug-in libraries: swap the game or the graphics (terminal, SDL, SFML) while it runs.

archived

One session through all five displays: the menu in an SFML window, the colored terminal display picked from it, Flappy Bird switched mid-game to an upside-down SFML window then to the classic terminal, Nibbler switched to SDL2, Snake, then the scores. Filmed on a virtual screen; a small script plays the games.

Period: Mar 2026 – Apr 2026
Role: Core, menu and two graphics libraries
Party: 3 people
Status: archived
Last touched: April 2026

Demo

demo:arcade$ ./arcade lib/arcade_ncurses.so
demo:arcade$

Arcade with its terminal display (ncurses): the menu with each module's embedded icon, a round of Snake, back to the menu, then Nibbler. Recorded in a clean container; the window displays need a screen.

Transcript (final screen)

demo:arcade$ ./arcade lib/arcade_ncurses.so
demo:arcade$

Arcade is a console for classic games with a twist: the program itself contains no game and no graphics. The games (Snake, Nibbler, Flappy Bird) and the ways to display them (in the terminal, or in a window with two different libraries) are plug-ins found at startup, and any game works with any display.

How it works

In the middle of a game, one key swaps the display (from a window to the terminal, say) and another swaps the game, without losing a beat. A plug-in compiled while Arcade is open shows up in the menu straight away. Each plug-in carries its own icon and pictures inside it, so nothing goes missing on someone else’s machine. We even shared our plug-in format with another group, so the two projects could run each other’s games.

What I took from it

A stable shared contract lets people work without talking to each other, as long as they respect it.
Making a plug-in carry its own files removes a whole category of “works on my machine”.