As a physics student I probably should have programmed a fantastically realistic simulation of a wobbly bit of a string by now. But I suppose we will just have to make do with a straight line for now.

I had an idea for the string theme before the challenge started, so I was glad that was the one chosen, otherwise I probably would have spent all day trying to come up with ideas.

I've been feeling kinda tired so I haven't got that far even though I've been working all day - well, mostly working as msn distracted me a lot - but I think It's going ok so far.

Here's my idea:
All the robots at the string factory have gone on strike, and its up to you to cut up all the pieces of string to the right length before there is a global shortage and the word descends into chaos.

Luckily, all the string made here is colour coordinated for some reason. Red string is short and blue string is long. As you have more important things to do, you get your hardworking assistant to do it all for you. But little did you know that he suffered from a rare form of colourblindness which renders him unable to distinguish between any colour! Now all the pieces of string are the same length! That will teach you to slack off.

You thank your lucky stars that the string just happened to have been cut to the maximum length the factory sells. Armed with your arm, which is actually a powerful laser, you must accurately cut the string to the correct length before you run out of time (you don't want to miss your bus home now, do you?)

And here's what I have after day 1:

It's not all that amazing, but hopefully I will be able to make it look a bit prettier by the time it's finished.

The strings are moved down the screen by a conveyor belt, so you have a limited time to cut each one. After a certain amount of strings you will progress to the next level, and making a number of mistakes will result in game over. There'll probably be a spectrum across the bottom to help you find the right place to cut it, at least on the first few levels.

I think the game is at the stage where it's playable now, even if it could do with a few minor changes such as being completely rewritten from scratch.

It's been a fun week and I think I've learned from it. I'm pretty inexperienced at programming and I only learned python a few weeks before the challenge so thats my excuse for the code being so awful. I did try to structure it well but my standards dropped as the challenge went on and I ended up writing quick fixes to problems rather than writing code thats clearer and easy to change :/

Hopefully I'll do a better job next year now that I'm a bit more familiar with python and pygame.

You can download the game here.

It hasn't been tested all that much so please let me know if it doesn't work properly so I can fix it before the deadline.

Here's the description from the readme:

DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME:

Due to a disagreement about ducks in the workplace, all the robots at the string factory have gone on strike. Until they are reprogrammed, it's up to you to ensure all the string is cut to the right length before there is a global shortage and the world descends into chaos!

Luckily, all the string made here is colour coordinated for some reason. Orange string is short and purple string is long. As you have more important things to do, you get your hardworking assistant to do it all for you. But little did you know that he suffered from a rare form of colourblindness which renders him unable to distinguish between any colours! When you return from your lunch break you find all the pieces of string are exactly the same length! That will teach you to slack off.

You thank your lucky stars that your assistant has cut all the pieces of string to the maximum length the factory sells and not an ångström shorter, giving you a chance to fix them yourself. Armed with your arm, which is actually a powerful laser, you must accurately cut the string to the correct length before you run out of time (you don't want to miss your bus home now, do you?)

HOW TO PLAY THE GAME:

Use the mouse to move the laser left and right. Clicking the mouse button will fire the laser, but be careful - if the length of a piece of string is incorrect, the world is doomed. Yo-yos will hit the ground, nobody will be able to tie their shoelaces, and cats, with nothing to distract them, will revert to their murderous nature and start hunting babies for fun. You cannot let this happen.

You can press escape to bring up the menu at any time. There are two types of game you can play: Normal and Endurance. In the normal game you must get through 15 levels of string cutting mayhem without using up your small supply of extra pieces of string. In endurance there is no spare string - the aim is to last as long as possible without making a single mistake.