As a child of the 90s, I have always had a soft spot for classic platformer games. From Super Mario Bros. to Sonic the Hedgehog, these games were a staple of my childhood and shaped my love for gaming. So when I had the opportunity to work on bringing some of my favorite Flash platformers to Steam, I jumped at the chance.
However, what I didn’t realize was that I was about to embark on an epic battle with 18 years of legacy code. The games I was tasked with bringing to Steam were originally created using Flash, a technology that has long been outdated and unsupported. This meant that I had to sift through thousands of lines of code, much of which was written by developers who are no longer with the company.
Despite the daunting task ahead of me, I was determined to make these games available to a new generation of gamers. I started by familiarizing myself with the codebase and identifying areas that needed to be updated or rewritten entirely. This process was not easy, as the code was a tangled mess of spaghetti logic and arcane syntax.
But with persistence and determination, I slowly began to make progress. I refactored outdated code, implemented modern best practices, and optimized performance wherever I could. It was a painstaking process, but with each line of code I fixed, I felt a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
One of the biggest challenges I faced was ensuring that the games ran smoothly on Steam’s platform. This required me to integrate various Steam features such as achievements, leaderboards, and cloud saves. It was a complex task that required a deep understanding of both the game’s codebase and Steam’s API.
After months of hard work and late nights, I finally reached a point where I felt confident enough to launch the games on Steam. The feeling of seeing my childhood favorites available for a new generation of gamers was indescribable. I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment that made all the long hours and frustrations worth it.
But the battle is far from over. I continue to work on improving and updating the games, fixing bugs, and adding new features. The legacy code may still haunt me, but I am determined to see this project through to the end.
In the end, this experience has taught me the importance of perseverance and dedication in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. I may be battling 18 years of legacy code, but I am confident that with hard work and determination, I will succeed in bringing my childhood favorite platformers to a whole new audience on Steam.
