This is the source code to VVVVVV, the 2010 indie game by Terry Cavanagh, with music by Magnus Pålsson. You can read the announcement of the source code release on Terry’s blog!
The source code for the desktop version is in this folder.
VVVVVV is still commercially available at thelettervsixtim.es if you’d like to support it, but you are completely free to compile the game for your own personal use. If you’re interested in distributing a compiled version of the game, see LICENSE.md for more information.
Discussion about VVVVVV updates mainly happens on the “unofficial” VVVVVV discord, in the vvvvvv-code channel.
- Created by Terry Cavanagh
- Room Names by Bennett Foddy
- Music by Magnus Pålsson
- Metal Soundtrack by FamilyJules
- 2.0 Update (C++ Port) by Simon Roth
- 2.2 Update (SDL2/PhysicsFS/Steamworks port) by Ethan Lee
- Additional coding by Misa Kai
15 Comments
neonsunset
Was very confusing to see C++ and ActionScript until I realized this is VVVVVV and clearly not VVVV!
peterldowns
Incredibly fun game, I'm not a huge gamer but I remember buying the Humble Bundle just to get this. One of the few games that I've spent the time to finish. Awesome work, Terry, and thank you for the great times!
btw also fuck you for veni vidi vici, jeez that took me a while!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CtiY5D6HCs
woleium
tangentially related, great to see https://www.iiiiiiii.com/ is still going
dang
Related. Others?
Is opening up your source code worth it? Terry Cavanagh thinks it was for VVVVVV – https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25727963 – Jan 2021 (16 comments)
Many games are held together by duct tape – https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22043156 – Jan 2020 (154 comments)
VVVVVV Source Code Released – https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22011465 – Jan 2020 (1 comment)
VVVVVV’s source code is now public, 10 year anniversary jam happening now – https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22011358 – Jan 2020 (223 comments)
VVVVVV 60% Off On The Mac App Store This Weekend – https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2347676 – March 2011 (1 comment)
rafram
Awesome game. Good to see the code is authentically bad for an indie game of that era.
TZubiri
Loved the game, sweet and short.
It's one of those twists that reward programmers that can think outside of the box and execute instead of downloading some generic libraries and making yet another platformer.
accrual
No way, this is very cool! I loved playing through VVVVVV. The first level music still lives and plays in my head from time to time.
Centigonal
I remember when a certain someone on an irc channel shared the vvvvvv flash demo with me and some others. That game, that period of time, the early Humble Bundles — all of that was pretty formative for me. Crazy to think that was almost 15 years ago.
jmmv
I’ll take the chance to reference Super Hexagon by the same author. Incredibly fun and addictive game as well while being super simple. I recall reading somewhere that the author spent only a day or so writing it.
And PPPPPP, the soundtrack for VVVVVV, is neat too!
gallerdude
When I was near the end of high school, my family visited London, and I was thinking about being a game dev. So I sent Terry Cavanagh an email, and to my surprise he completely agreed to get lunch.
He was extremely kind, gave me a lot of interesting life advice. I remember him saying that he got most of his ideas just from playing around with mechanics and experimenting a lot, he was never really one to get grand visions.
Anyways, great fellow, glad he opened source V (as he called it).
lazycouchpotato
If you liked VVVVVV, I suggest trying LOVE.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/269270/LOVE/
moralestapia
Wow, this is great, I really enjoyed this game when it came out, what a pleasant surprise to see it was open sourced, truly a work of art.
grep_it
There was a period of time in my life where I had recently moved to California from Canada and I was desperate for a job. I got a job doing door-to-door sales for Comcast. I hated it. I often sat in my car playing VVVVVV on my phone while shirking my responsibilities. Thank you Terry, for the reprieve.
kleiba
You can play a demo of VVVVVVV in your web browser here: https://www.kongregate.com/games/TerryCavanagh/vvvvvv-demo
cess11
At first I thought it would be some kind of successor to https://vvvv.org/, which I hadn't looked at in years.
The game looks fun, might give it a spin.