Handmade Hero isn't just about "how to make a game." It's about how to make a game without relying on external API/libraries. Thus, why it's called "Handmade."

From this article

Can you explain what Handmade Hero is, as well as the intent behind it?

Sure! Handmade Hero is a combination of two things I've always wanted to do: 1) record 100% of the coding for an entire game, and 2) make a game where I wrote all of the code involved. And by "all of the code" I literally mean all of it. We're going to try to have a Raspberry Pi version at some point where it boots straight into the game -- no operating system, no graphics driver -- just like the old days.

So, it's probably not best to follow along to learn how to make a game, but it is good if you want to understand all the inner workings of a game. I personally hope he does get to the point where the game loads directly as instruction 0 on the boot media, that would be very cool.

So, it's probably not best to follow along to learn how to make a game, but it is good if you want to understand all the inner workings of a game. I personally hope he does get to the point where the game loads directly as instruction 0 on the boot media, that would be very cool.

I think the most valuable thing is just watching someone code. It's different from a class, lecture, tutorial, or book. It's like you've got a job working at a game company and you're sitting along side him while he codes and explains everything to you. For a beginner, there is a lot of good stuff going on. He doesn't optimize anything at the start, or draw UML. He just adds some code, copies functions from the internet, fills everything in, and then runs through the debugger.

I know if I would have had something like this when I was learning how to program, I wouldn't have spent so much time making everything "perfect".

This might not be the best way to make games, but it sure is a great way to understand what goes on inside an engine, which helps someone understand any engine.

I have been enjoying the series even though I'm an experienced engine/game/graphics programmer. Always learning some little things.

Copies functions from the internet? So he doesn't literally mean he'll write "all of the code"?

I meant copies function definitions from MSDN, not completed functions.

He doesn't optimize anything at the start, or draw UML

I remember reading a Blog post he wrote where he specifically mentions issues he has with designing UML and other abstract designing prior to writing any code. Its about general "Semantic Compression", and not over complicating and abstracting your code, especially prior to even knowing what your code will be doing.

http://mollyrocket.com/casey/stream_0019.html

I thought it was a pretty great read. Even if you don't necessarily agree with what he has to say, will still hopefully get you thinking.

I've read that before. I find many people read things like this and dismiss them. I try to remember that really smart, successful people aren't crazy. If you don't understand something that works for them, it is mistake to dismiss it just because it goes against what you believe. Since reading this I've started making prototype code like this. It is a different way of looking at the code. Sometimes that's just what you need.

I actually think it's a good article and I see his point about objects emerging only when you have the need to re-use code.

As a bonus, it helped think a bit more clearly on one possible to implement UI code.