Seventh Python game programming challenge

[r1chard]

Yep, number 7. It'll run in early September.

The PyWeek challenge invites entrants to write a game in one week from scratch either as an individual or in a team. Entries must be developed in Python, during the challenge, and must incorporate some theme chosen at the start of the challenge

Up and running:

• PyWeek Entry
• Project Hosting
• Discussion Group

Let me know your google username and pyweek.org username if you want me to sign you up (PM here or my gmail address is r1chardj0n3s.) If you don't give me a heads-up I'll ignore your requests to join them because I'll assume the applicant is a spammer

Make sure you indicate what timezone you're in!

[mat-tina]

I participated in Pyweek 6 with a couple of friends and got a
pretty nice result in the end. I strongly recommend it for anyone
who can afford to neglect a week's work/social life/sleep.

[r1chard]

I should point out that while I neglect everything else (I have an understanding family) I still do my day job during the week

BTW, I could also be convinced to be a part of Team XKCD this time

[Xeio]

Hehe, I read that as a 48 hour timer the first time. I was thinking, "Can I learn python in 48 hours to try for the contest".

48 days is a considerably larger window to learn some python in.

[Berengal]

Hmmm, 48 days? That might be doable. I wanted to join in on the last one, but exams and stuff (mostly exams) prevented me from doing so. I'm up for another try at a xkcd team. At least until further notice...

[DragonRidr]

My PC doesn't seem to want to deal with Pygame for some reason (I posted about it in the "It doesn't work!" thread, but nothing really came of it), but I've been dying to work with it as soon as I get my new laptop for going of to college this fall.

I'd be thrilled to work on an xkcd team. 40 days of learning (assuming I get the laptop a week from now) should be enough for me to be able to at least contribute enough to make it worth having me on there.

[Mat]

Ooh, cool. I'm learning python atm so I will have a go at it... although I probably wont be much use on an xkcd team - I'll probably enter by myself.

Having a one week deadline should be quite interesting as I'm the kinda person who starts things and then loses interest

[r1chard]

My PC doesn't seem to want to deal with Pygame for some reason (I posted about it in the "It doesn't work!" thread

Does pyglet work? I'm one of the devs of that (and the related cocos2d) and prefer using it over pygame. Having said that, did you try asking for help on the pygame mailing list? There's several devs active on that list.

Programming is but one-third of the effort in PyWeek. The art and gameplay are its equals. If we do end up with a team made of people on this forum we'll all end up being programmers with no artists - does anyone have any friendly artists they can rope into the team? My art skills are just passable

(having said that - superb gameplay will balance average art, and superb art will balance average gameplay, but neither will ever balance average programming

[DragonRidr]

The reason that I'm holding out for the laptop rather than stressing over getting pygame working on this PC is that this PC is a five-year-old box of junk and I'm getting a laptop about a week from now. I had problems when I tried developing with Microsoft XNA on this box because my video card is so old it doesn't have Pixel Shader 1.1 or something like that, so I'm thinking it's likely a related problem. That being said, I'll definitely check out pyglet if I have some extra time this week.

My art skills are... fakeable, at best. I'd show a screenshot to make you laugh, but I'd need to get XNA working on this PC (I was doing development on a borrowed laptop that I no longer have.) Just imagine sub-par 2d racing game graphics. Okay, it had a decent RC car for someone who has touched the Gimp about 5 times in his life, but still.

[Cosmologicon]

I'm up for joining a team again! It's not going to happen unless someone takes the initiative to start it, though, and I don't think that's going to be me this time. I'll go individual if the team doesn't pan out.

[b.i.o]

I think I might just do this with a friend. I've been learning Python for another reason entirely, but he would really like to get into games programming and this could be a lot of fun.

[r1chard]

I'm going to set up an XKCD team on the pyweek system once registration is open - unless everyone here is already registered with the site?

I've got a lead on a musician who could help out.

So far I've had no luck finding any artists though. Perhaps we could go with geometric / vector designs?

[fennecfanatic]

My art skills are fairly mediocre when it comes to composed pieces, but I'm capable enough with a tablet to draw sprites. Here's my website: http://www.cogspace.com/ - I drew that. Good enough? =D (Now if only I had the dedication to actually work on it...)

Aside: That site is using Python in CGI, also by me. Bonus!

I'm also quite fluent with Python and pygame in particular, though I'm now very interested in cocos and pyglet - will have to take those for a spin!

[Haragorn]

I can help. I can take care of some of the artwork, and if I can get my new computer before this, I can also put together some music for it. I should also be able to help with the coding. Pretty much anything you need, I'm an average choice for. There will be someone better, somewhere, but I should be just good enough.

Hooray for mediocrity!

[DragonRidr]

fennec - your artistic style (I guess that's the term?) reminds me of something I've seen before. I went back and glanced at that Fancy Pants Adventures series of games, but realized that wasn't quite it.

Either way, I think we've got an artist.

My laptop should be coming in sometime during the next couple of days. I've been kinda distracted by the Google Code Jam from getting too much done with pygame yet, though.

Any ideas on a team development/hosting/communication environment (for back of a better term) that we can use? We would need to get that started early - that's the point where at least one previous xkcd pygame attempt has failed to get off the ground before.

[r1chard]

Any ideas on a team development/hosting/communication environment (for back of a better term) that we can use? We would need to get that started early - that's the point where at least one previous xkcd pygame attempt has failed to get off the ground before.

@fennec: looks great! We might even end up with intro/cutscene stuff!

@Haragorn: cool! Got any samples of your work?

I'd be happy to set up a google code project to host it if people let me know their google usernames (my gmail addy is r1chardj0n3s) - this gives us project storage, issue tracker and wiki. Alongside that I'll set up a closed group for communication, allowing us web/email conversations and file uploading. Anyone with serious moral objections to those two services speak up now - I give you 24 hours before I'll press the buttons

I've set up a team at PyWeek, so let me know your username there. Registration for people new to the challenge should open in a few days.

We'll need to talk about team organisation - who is going to fulfill the various roles: designer (lead), programmer(s), artists(s), sound tech(s) and musician(s). Testers are also welcome, especially if you're willing to fix bugs

Oh, and also make sure you indicate what timezone you're in!

If people are amenable we could try a mini-challenge beforehand to see how we work together. Just a relaxed few days to see how we collaborate.

[Haragorn]

This was my final project for programming last year. It was built using Michael Dawson's version of Livewires , so a mod of a mod of pygame. That would be the livewires folder in there. The other folder contains the game I made. The character sprites were edited by me, and the backgrounds I made by hand. The platformer engine took me about a month of classtime to do, but with how it is now, it would take very little time to design more stages. I was somewhat limited by time, and yet still got a perfect score. There's no sound in it, because I upgraded to Finale Notepad 08 from 07, which crashes whenever a sheet of music comes up. I also accidentally deleted all the songs I had written.

I'd be most comfortable with Livewires, but anythings good for me. I can always learn something else.

I'm in EDT time zone.

[mat-tina]

Oh, goshdarn, etc. I have a moral dilemma: I've been out of contact with my other team members for a while, so I'm not sure whether to go with you guys or wait for confirmation from them about our entry.

I was on a team in the last competition, as a coordinator/programmer. I'm not a professional programmer or anything, but I might be able to help.

Umm. I'll get back to you. Don't count on me, though.

[r1chard]

The character sprites were edited by me, and the backgrounds I made by hand.

That sprite set is cool!

How would you feel using something like Inkscape to design larger, vector-based sprites? I typically use a sprite / block size around 128x128 or 256x256. Sometimes bigger. See my last PyWeek game FlatBot. The graphics in that are partly Inkscape (sprites) and The Gimp (level tiles) with a smattering of generated images (the cloud is randomly generated - I have code to generate trees too).

The platformer engine took me about a month of classtime to do, but with how it is now, it would take very little time to design more stages.

PyWeek forbids the use of existing game engines

I'd be most comfortable with Livewires, but anythings good for me. I can always learn something else.

I'd be pushing to use pyglet and cocos2d. The latter provides a nice set of scene management and animation tools. And tile set / mapping code that I contributed. I used cocos and pyglet in the flatbot game linked above.

[DragonRidr]

r1chard - My google account name includes my real name, so I'll PM it to you rather than post it here for all to see.

I am in the Eastern time zone (GMT -5:00).

Might want to just chart me down as a tester - I'm going to use the next month to learn as much as I can to help, but it seems I'm going to be the one of the least experienced/artistic on the team. We'll see when we get closer to the competition date.

[gorcee]

I'd be up for participating in this. I bang away at Python on a fairly consistent basis. PM me or whatever.

[r1chard]

Project, discussion group etc. created. OP edited with information.

[r1chard]

Let me know your google username and pyweek.org username if you want me to sign you up (PM here is fine, or my gmail address as mentioned above). If you don't give me a heads-up I'll ignore your requests to join them because I'll assume the applicant is a spammer

[Cosmologicon]

I want in. I'm Cosmologicon everywhere.

[r1chard]

I want in. I'm Cosmologicon everywhere.

Welcome aboard Cosmo - Universe Factory was cool

What timezone are you in?

[Haragorn]

That sprite set is cool!

How would you feel using something like Inkscape to design larger, vector-based sprites? I typically use a sprite / block size around 128x128 or 256x256. Sometimes bigger. See my last PyWeek game FlatBot. The graphics in that are partly Inkscape (sprites) and The Gimp (level tiles) with a smattering of generated images (the cloud is randomly generated - I have code to generate trees too).

I did all the graphics in MS Paint. All the characters are edits, not from scratch, which I'm not sure is allowed... I think it would be. I never really liked The Gimp. I tried it out, but it was confusing. I've never used the other program.

PyWeek forbids the use of existing game engines :)

Yeah, I know. That was just to explain why the game only had one stage.

I'd be pushing to use pyglet and cocos2d. The latter provides a nice set of scene management and animation tools. And tile set / mapping code that I contributed. I used cocos and pyglet in the flatbot game linked above.

If you give me a link, I'll download them.

[gorcee]

I'm not certain if my PM went through or not. I'm apparently being internet retarded today.

Anyhow, google name is gorcenski at bainet.com. PyWeek username is gorcee.

[Cosmologicon]

I want in. I'm Cosmologicon everywhere.

Welcome aboard Cosmo - Universe Factory was cool

What timezone are you in?

Right, I forgot. EDT.

[Haragorn]

lord_haragorn at hotamil dot com is my google account email. I'm in EDT< but I think I already said that.

[r1chard]

OK, added gorcee, Berengal & Haragorn.

Added a page with the timezones to the google group page. Looks like I'm very much the odd one out

Just waiting on Haragorn's pyweek username.

[r1chard]

I've never used the other program.

Give it a try, it's free

I'd be pushing to use pyglet and cocos2d.

If you give me a link, I'll download them.

http://www.pyglet.org/ and http://www.cocos2d.org/

[Haragorn]

I haven't been in previous pyweeks, so I can't register until the eighth.

[gorcee]

I haven't been in previous pyweeks, so I can't register until the eighth.

I totally cheated.

Go to the login screen. Replace login with register in the URL.

>.>

[Haragorn]

Cool. I'm Haragorn on PyWeek.

[r1chard]

Cool. I'm Haragorn on PyWeek.

Goodo, you're in, having circumvented the intentionally weak roadblock I put in place

[Ehtirno]

I think I'll sign up for this too - I'm Ehtirno just about everywhere.. And I'm on GMT +1 ( or MET with DST, for the acronym lovers ), which probably means far away from most people

[r1chard]

I think I'll sign up for this too - I'm Ehtirno just about everywhere.. And I'm on GMT +1 ( or MET with DST, for the acronym lovers ), which probably means far away from most people

Cool, welcome

[mat-tina]

The platformer engine took me about a month of classtime to do, but with how it is now, it would take very little time to design more stages.

PyWeek forbids the use of existing game engines

Wait, what? Don't you mean engines published less than a month before the competition, or does all code have to be written from scratch?

[r1chard]

Wait, what? Don't you mean engines published less than a month before the competition, or does all code have to be written from scratch?

No, that rule refers to not being able to use eg. the Counter-Strike Python scripting, or anything akin to Game Maker. pygame, pyglet, cocos2d, PGU, etc. are not game engines.

[thoughtfully]

The platformer engine took me about a month of classtime to do, but with how it is now, it would take very little time to design more stages.

PyWeek forbids the use of existing game engines

Wait, what? Don't you mean engines published less than a month before the competition, or does all code have to be written from scratch?

Obviously, one must enter machine language directly to the CPU with a toggle switch. Oh wait, at least we can use Python. What exactly is a "game engine" anyway? This seems to spell it out clearly enough. It can't implement "game logic". Oops. Whatever that means. There is a wiki page with examples of accepted libraries. Also, no "personal libraries"; all code that isn't written during the challenge must have been publicly available for at least a month beforehand. Oh, and they are supposed to be "well documented" as well.

So, I've thrown my hat in as well. I've been coding Python professionally for eight years or so. I don't have any game writing experience, but I work a lot with data visualization, including some 3D stuff. I probably won't have time for a lot of hardcore coding, but I can be a sounding board and provide tips, guidance, and support code.

Another one to check out is Visual Python. It really makes a lot of 3D work simple, but you do give up flexibility. It was designed for physics education. Also, my favorite open source platformer, not in Python: Blob Wars. Accept no imitations. Wow, it used to be the only one that google found, honest

Oh, and I'm GMT-6...well -5 actually, due to that silly Daylight Savings Time stuff.

EDIT: Another tool I was going to mention is Paint.NET. It's a photo editing/bitmap oriented tool, not as bulky as the GIMP, and way better than MS Paint. Still fairly bulky though, if you count the dotNET 3 runtime Inkscape rocks, but if you need to play with bitmaps, I'd use this.