Getting Down to Business

Akake on 2008/09/11 16:42 of The Laughing Fox

Okay. I had a talk with a friend who pointed out to me that if I did this all Pythonically, it wouldn't take as long as it looked like in my weepy-eyed, pointy little head.

I've been looking through some tutorials on pygame.sprite, and I've realized that it won't actually take that long to do this, if I do it intelligently, don't get frustrated and burst into tears, don't get side-tracked, don't add features, and don't constantly check for new comments and posts on this site.

So, with under 72 Hours to do this, I'm going to give it my best and try not to get discouraged again, as I know it can't be fun having some first-timer get all sad and give up because his engine isn't running correctly. Besides. If I don't, I know I'll always regret it. I started regretting it minutes after making the decision. And I don't want to do thing's I'll regret if I can help it.

Please forgive my dramatics. I'm very new to these things, but that isn't an excuse.

On with it, then. A whole engine in a short amount of time.

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Comments

Tee on 2008/09/11 17:25:

Akake, relax. Pyweek is all about having fun, learning, and making yourself create a game in a week, at least for me. My games always end up rushed, very often with no sound, little polish and an awful code. But the accomplishment of submitting something and seeing that at least a few people enjoyed it is enough to make it all worth it.

You don't need to apologize for your posts (at least I don't mind), just try to make a game for yourself to enjoy. Even if you don't finish in time, you will still have learned a lot for the next time. And try to have fun. :)

Akake on 2008/09/11 17:32:

Thanks for the reminder :P

I've been having fun for most of the week, I just got blind-sided by how crappy my collision engine was. ^^; I'm not used to my code failing that spectacularly. I'm kinda wishing I hadn't thrown it out, actually. It wasn't fun to watch, but it was the sort of thing that makes for a good story. And it may well have made an okay screensaver if I threw a bunch of random objects in there. XD

But, yeah, getting back on track. I scheduled out Sunday for my schoolwork, and found that I don't need to worry about it until after the compo.

So chock one up for the spazzy newbie! XD

saluk on 2008/09/11 17:35:

You ought to come into irc, irc.freenode.net channel #pyweek

You can ask for help and advice there whenever you need it. Or just vent and use it as a therapist :)

Collision detection (well, collision response) is hard, especially for beginners. It's just something you have to struggle through, and ask for a lot of help on. You may have to throw your code out and start over, but there is usually a simpler way to do things. I have a similar problem with my string code, I had a nice system working on sunday, but on monday I decided to refactor it. What I ended up doing was defactoring it, and I am worried that there are still hidden bugs I don't know of. It seems like every time I change something, something else that worked stops working. But I'm hopeful it will all amount to something in the end.

Honestly, if you have good graphics, you stand a chance to do well even if the collisions are eh. Although that's beside the point. The point is to attempt the near impossible - make a game in such a short time - try new things, see what you are made of, and learn from the whole things. Then you put your work out there for all to see and judge, hopefully someone gives you some constructive criticism, which you take to heart and try again the next time. And anyone who says something silly or not useful, just ignore it.

Oh, and what Tee said. Try to have fun!

Anyway, good luck. Even if it ends up just a pretty tech demo it will be fine. I'm really interested in the level generator by the way. And your sprite is too cool to miss.

Akake on 2008/09/11 18:07:

Hm.

The main reason I haven't been on the IRC channel is that I have never been able to get an IRC client to work.

I don't really understand how to connect to an IRC channel. Otherwise I'd be there. :/

Tee on 2008/09/11 18:32:

I know almost nothing of IRC either, but I use Chatzilla, which is a Firefox extension. Connect to freenode and then type /join #pyweek. Though maybe others will be able to help you more if Chatzilla doesn't work.

saluk on 2008/09/11 18:40:

install irssi
run irssi from command line
/connect irc.freenode.net
/nick akake
/join #pyweek
/join #pygame
alt-# to switch between tabs
chat!

saluk on 2008/09/11 18:41:

that's "alt-1" for tab 1, "alt-2" for tab 2, etc.

Akake on 2008/09/11 18:45:

I'm using Chatzilla ATM, which has worked up to the point of me actually joining #pyweek.

It says I need to register with the nickname service...

What does that mean?

RB[0] on 2008/09/11 22:13:

You can ignore that :)