GDC 2025 Session Viewer
Building 'Penny's Big Breakaway' with Beef, a New Programming Language
Hunter Bridges (CTO and Game Director, Evening Star)
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass - Get your pass now!
Track: Programming
Format: Lecture
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: Advanced
"Pennys Big Breakaway" is the first commercial game programmed using Beef, a newly emerging programming language. In this session, Hunter Bridges reflects on the evolution of game logic programming from Sonic Mania, through Evening Star's early prototypes, leading to the solutions for Penny's development and beyond. He goes through the why and the how of deciding on Beef, and what it unlocked for the Evening Star's programming team.
He discusses other emerging programming languages, and general ways game engines can be built to incorporate them. He also drills into specific challenges of deploying alternative languages in a multi-platform environment. This session includes first-hand accounts of bugs that the team encountered, and approaches for debugging issues around language boundaries.
Takeaway
The audience will gain a general understanding of how alternative programming languages can be viably used in the context of a modern title. Attendees will also learn about a new game-focused programming language, and hear first hand experiences from the first team who shipped it in a commercial title.
Intended Audience
Programmers who are considering alternatives to entrenched programming languages like C, C++ and C# can benefit from this session. It is also intended for engine programmers who may be interested in extending their technology with other languages, while still bridging the gap to established platforms, SDKs, and deployment environments.
