Judging my skill.

[rysin]

Hey guys. Ive been coding python for about a year now, and yesterday my older brother,who has no experience in programming at all, asked me when I was going to start programming video games. Is there some sort of test I can take to see if im ready for this type of programming? Thanks for all replies in advance.

[1337455 10534]

Very simple :);
Do you know what to do?
Do you even know what you want to do?
There's a wide variety of games...
I'm sure you've heard of Pygame.. why don't you test it out.
I made a lil star-wars thing in a week..

[a1eio]

lol pygame is fun, give it a go.. hardly industry standard top notch gaming, but you can make some very interesting games :)

[rysin]

Leet, what do you think is the best way to approach pygame from a game making point of view? I used pygame for an app I did not to long ago, and that was my first encounter with it. But that wasnt making a game...

[1337455 10534]

Here is an interesting example I slightly modified.

import random, os, pygame
from pygame.locals import *
SCREEN_WIDTH  = 742
SCREEN_HEIGHT = 600
def loadIageFile(name, useColorKey = False):
    fullname = os.path.join( "data", name )
    try:
        image = pygame.image.load(fullname)
    except pygame.error, message:
        print "Cannot load image:", fullname
        raise SystemExit, message
    image = image.convert()
    if useColorKey is True:
        colorkey = image.get_at((0,0))
        image.set_colorkey(colorkey, RLEACCEL)
    return image
def loadSoundFile(name):
    class NoneSound:
        def play(self): pass
    if not pygame.mixer or not pygame.mixer.get_init():
        return NoneSound()
    fullname = os.path.join("data", name)
    try:
        sound = pygame.mixer.Sound(fullname)
    except pygame.error, message:
        print "Cannot load sound:", fullname
        raise SystemExit, message
    return sound
class XWing(pygame.sprite.Sprite):
    def __init__( self ):
        pygame.sprite.Sprite.__init__( self )
        self.image = loadIageFile("xwing.bmp", True)
        self.rect = self.image.get_rect()
        self.rect.center = (SCREEN_WIDTH/2,SCREEN_HEIGHT)
        self.x_velocity = 0
        self.y_velocity = 0
    def update(self):
        self.rect.move_ip((self.x_velocity, self.y_velocity))
        if self.rect.left < 0:
            self.rect.left = 0
        elif self.rect.right > SCREEN_WIDTH:
            self.rect.right = SCREEN_WIDTH
        if self.rect.top <= SCREEN_HEIGHT/2:
            self.rect.top = SCREEN_HEIGHT/2
        elif self.rect.bottom >= SCREEN_HEIGHT:
            self.rect.bottom = SCREEN_HEIGHT
class TIEFighter( pygame.sprite.Sprite ):
    def __init__( self, startx ):
        pygame.sprite.Sprite.__init__( self )
        self.image = loadIageFile("tie_fighter.bmp", True)
        self.rect = self.image.get_rect()
        self.rect.centerx = startx
        self.rect.centery = 120
        self.x_velocity = random.randint(-7, 7)
        self.y_velocity = random.randint(-7, 7)
    def update(self):
        self.rect.move_ip((self.x_velocity, self.y_velocity))
        if self.rect.left < 0 or self.rect.right > SCREEN_WIDTH:
            self.x_velocity = -(self.x_velocity)
        if self.rect.top < 0 or self.rect.bottom > SCREEN_HEIGHT/2:
            self.y_velocity = -(self.y_velocity)
        fire = random.randint( 1, 70 )
        if fire == 1:
            tiefighterLaserSprites.add(TIEFighterLaser(self.rect.midbottom ))
            tiefighterShotFX.play()
class XWingLaser(pygame.sprite.Sprite):
    def __init__(self, startpos):
        pygame.sprite.Sprite.__init__(self)
        self.image = loadIageFile("rebel_laser.bmp", True)
        self.rect = self.image.get_rect()
        self.rect.center = startpos
    def update(self):
        if self.rect.bottom <= 0:
            self.kill()
        else:
            self.rect.move_ip((0,-4))
class TIEFighterLaser(pygame.sprite.Sprite):
    def __init__( self, startpos ):
        pygame.sprite.Sprite.__init__( self )
        self.image = loadIageFile("empire_laser.bmp", True)
        self.rect = self.image.get_rect()
        self.rect.midtop = startpos
    def update(self):
        if self.rect.bottom >= SCREEN_HEIGHT:
            self.kill()
        else:
            self.rect.move_ip( (0,4) )
def main():
    random.seed()
    pygame.init()
    #screen = pygame.display.set_mode( (SCREEN_WIDTH, SCREEN_HEIGHT), FULLSCREEN )
    #screen = pygame.display.set_mode( (SCREEN_WIDTH, SCREEN_HEIGHT), HWSURFACE|DOUBLEBUF )
    screen = pygame.display.set_mode( (SCREEN_WIDTH, SCREEN_HEIGHT) )
    pygame.display.set_caption("Star Wars")
    background_image = loadIageFile("background.bmp")
    background_rect = background_image.get_rect()
    screen.blit(background_image, (0,0))
    #pygame.mouse.set_visible(False)
    explode1FX = loadSoundFile("explode1.wav")
    #explode2FX = loadSoundFile( "explode2.wav" )
    global tiefighterShotFX
    tiefighterShotFX = loadSoundFile("empire_laser.wav")
    xwingShotFX = loadSoundFile("rebel_laser.wav")
    xwingSprite = pygame.sprite.RenderClear()
    xwing = XWing()
    xwingSprite.add(xwing)
    xwingLaserSprites = pygame.sprite.RenderClear()
    tiefighterSprites = pygame.sprite.RenderClear()
    tiefighterSprites.add(TIEFighter(150))
    tiefighterSprites.add(TIEFighter(400))
    tiefighterSprites.add(TIEFighter(650))
    global tiefighterLaserSprites
    tiefighterLaserSprites = pygame.sprite.RenderClear()
    running = True
    addTieFighterCounter = 0
    clock = pygame.time.Clock()
    while running is True:
        clock.tick(60)
        for event in pygame.event.get():
            if event.type == QUIT:
                running = False
            elif event.type == KEYDOWN:
                if event.key == K_ESCAPE:
                    running = False
                elif event.key == K_LEFT:
                    xwing.x_velocity = -4
                elif event.key == K_RIGHT:
                    xwing.x_velocity = 4
                elif event.key == K_UP:
                    xwing.y_velocity = -4
                elif event.key == K_DOWN:
                    xwing.y_velocity = 4
                elif event.key == K_SPACE:
                    xwingLaserSprites.add( XWingLaser(xwing.rect.midtop))
                    xwingShotFX.play()
            elif event.type == KEYUP:
                if event.key == K_LEFT:
                    xwing.x_velocity = 0
                elif event.key == K_RIGHT:
                    xwing.x_velocity = 0
                elif event.key == K_UP:
                    xwing.y_velocity = 0
                elif event.key == K_DOWN:
                    xwing.y_velocity = 0
        addTieFighterCounter += 1
        if addTieFighterCounter >= 200:
            tiefighterSprites.add( TIEFighter( 320 ) )
            addTieFighterCounter = 0
        xwingSprite.update()
        xwingLaserSprites.update()
        tiefighterSprites.update()
        tiefighterLaserSprites.update()
        for hit in pygame.sprite.groupcollide(tiefighterSprites, xwingLaserSprites, 1, 1):
            explode1FX.play()
        tiefighterLaserSprites.clear(screen, background_image)
        tiefighterSprites.clear(screen, background_image)
        xwingLaserSprites.clear(screen, background_image)
        xwingSprite.clear( screen, background_image)
        tiefighterLaserSprites.draw( screen )
        xwingLaserSprites.draw(screen)
        tiefighterSprites.draw(screen)
        xwingSprite.draw(screen)
        pygame.display.flip()
main()

[rysin]

Can you explain your code for me please? And if you dont have time to run through all of it can you run me through one of the class's. Like what is a rect? ALthough ive used __init__ before in some GUI builder(Tkinter I believe), I never really understood it. SO if you can run through those for me. Or you can just not run through any of it, which is fine to.

[1337455 10534]

You're looking for this; http://www.codesampler.com/python.htm

I just messed with size dimensions, speed and crap to learn a bit of pygame.
The original is well commented (I tested out a script to remove all #'s from a file on it).
Its the 'simple star wars game'

[rysin]

Thanks again leet! If I have questions about pygame can I post em here or do I have to post them in game development... Thanks for all who replied!

[1337455 10534]

np :D, I have a lot of time to spare.