Voting on the theme for PyWeek 2 has started. The challenge begins in just six days, on March 26, 2006. Good luck to everyone who has registered!

Learning Python has a new tutorial up called Creating a Game in Python Using PyGame. It’s part one of a series, and looks really good.

As readers know, I spent a while playing around with PyGame and was really impressed with it. It make it extremely easy to get a decent little game up and running in a short amount of time. This tutorial will help you get started.

The playsh project is getting a little buzz in some circles:

playsh is a MOO-like text environment that runs on your local computer. The basic object types and verbs are based on LambdaMOO … playsh is written in Python.

I never got into the whole MUD/MUSH/MOO thing, but sometimes I wish I had. Sounds like it could be fun.

Update: It looks like I really missed the point of playsh when I originally read about it. Doh! If you want a far better description, check out Coding Tool Is a Text Adventure at Wired News.

Update 2: Pinhead’s Progress has photos and a writeup from a talk presented by the playsh people.

Theme voting for the second PyWeek Game Progamming Challenge doesn’t start for another nine days, but there are already diary entries from quite a few teams. Looks like they will have a good turnout.

If you haven’t registered yet, you still have a few days. Check out the rules and sign up.

Today is February 24th, so you can now register for PyWeek 2! The challenge is to write a game from scratch in one week. See the challenge rules for details.

Although I’ve thought about it, I just don’t think I’m comfortable enough with PyGame to enter this time around. Maybe I’ll try PyWeek 3 if they have one.

Just a reminder that registration for PyWeek 2 starts this Friday. The actual contest starts 00:00UTC Sunday 26th March and ends 00:00UTC Sunday 2nd April.

See the challenge rules for details.

Dev Shed has a decent tutorial covering the basics of building a game using PyGame. If you are new to PyGame, and considering entering the upcoming PyWeek 2 contest, you might want to check it out.

By the way, registration for PyWeek begins on February 24, 2006.

Battle for Wesnoth is a free, turn-based strategy game with a fantasy setting. I’ve never played it myself, but I hear that (other than the graphics) it’s really a top quality game. Here’s the basic premise:

Fight to regain the throne of Wesnoth, of which you are the legitimate heir, or use your dread power over the Undead to dominate the land of mortals, or lead your glorious Orcish tribe to victory against the humans who dared despoil your lands.

The game itself is written in C++, but the developers have just added a Python API that allows players to tweak the game’s AI. They are careful to note that it’s a work in progress, and that “everything may change before an official release,” but it’s a very cool idea. It will certainly make it easier for more people to get involved.

I found a PyGame mailing list thread on fast scrolling maps today. It’s from 2002, so it’s a little old. I think, however, that it might still be useful.

Quoth the original poster:

“Can anyone point me to a good example of a fast scrolling background (full-screen or nearly full-screen)?”

The subsequent thread has quite a few potential solutions and lot of advice.

Tonight I finally created what could be called a true “game”, as opposed the basic PyGame proof-of-concept stuff I’ve been toying with:

Basically, you use the mouse to control the paddle (a la Breakout) and bounce the smiley face around the screen, with appropriate sound effects. If the smiley slips past you and hits the bottom, you lose a life. After three lives are lost, the game is over.

It’s probably the most simple computer game in the world, but I really feel like I’m making some progress… and PyWeek 2 is only a few weeks away.