The Cactus Game Engine

I am using the following class to easily store data of my songs. class Song: """The class to store the details of each song""" attsToStore=('Name', 'Artist', 'Album', 'Genre', 'Location') def __init__(self): for att in self.attsToStore: exec 'self.%s=None'%(att.lo...

Maybe. Sanitizing input can either be really easy, or a real pain in the ass.

I don't know Lua.

bazola

6:23 PM

we toyed with Lua for a while for Cardshifter and finally gave up on it

Ethan Bierlein

Well, the engine is written in Python, so for now, I think people could just use Python to write their games. for now

Yes, essentially.

Unity-ish

k

Annonomus Penguin

What are required_key and function for?

Ethan Bierlein

Ah, I see.

Annonomus Penguin

@QPaysTaxes he means console by text based game

Mast

@QPaysTaxes Let's get it working for one set of data first, define a method of feeding new data into the engine later.

Ethan Bierlein

6:30 PM

Oof. I feel like the mechanics of this haven't been laid out very well yet.

I might just delete all the files currently in the repo and start over once we have a defined set of mechanics.

Alright, nuking in 3

2

1

Annonomus Penguin

Google Drive anyone?

bazola

its always much harder to make an engine than to make a game

Ethan Bierlein

I can see.

I have a school-based google account, but I'm not sure if I can access it over the summer.

Annonomus Penguin

@bazola no, it's always much harder to make a flexible enough/reusable game engine

Ethan Bierlein

Okay, I think we have a pretty good idea for how data is stored.

In the engine, for maps.

Annonomus Penguin

6:35 PM

@EthanBierlein hard drive!

@QPaysTaxes pitch ideas here

Mast

@QPaysTaxes Stupid one last.

2

Ethan Bierlein

Hmm, okay... Could you give an example of the structure?

bazola

googled and found this really fast: textadventures.co.uk/quest

Annonomus Penguin

@QPaysTaxes I like it but how about, instead of having a master layout, having a door block type that is a pointer to another room?

Ethan Bierlein

That actually sounds pretty simple to use as well.

Annonomus Penguin

6:38 PM

Then we can have "warped" maps (if that makes any sense)

Please start using the reply button so we know who you are replying to (thanks!)

Ethan Bierlein

We could have an array of "rooms" and each "room" in the array references other rooms based on an input.

I hope that makes sense.

Annonomus Penguin

@QPaysTaxes it makes it easier to read

@EthanBierlein so, let me start typing in teh docs

*the

Mast

                                                                                                             +---------------------------------+
+------------------------+                       +------------------------------+                            |                                 |
|                        |                       |                              |                            |                                 |
|                        |                       |                              |                            |                                 |

Darn, too big

Annonomus Penguin

@QPaysTaxes I know, I'm just too lazy :P

@QPaysTaxes I know chat inside out (I'm a mod, in case you didn't notice the blue)

@QPaysTaxes a.k.a. don't do anything incredibly stupid in here :D

@QPaysTaxes calls in reinforcements

@QPaysTaxes we have secret ways of communicating

Mast

@AnnonomusPenguin Pagers.

Annonomus Penguin

6:42 PM

@QPaysTaxes no, it's a, errr, unicorn room!

@Mast totally. And holographic Skype calls

Ethan Bierlein

I have an idea. Use a directory structure to store data. Like this:

./mapName
	/choiceName1
		data.txt
	/choiceName2
		data.txt

Where the data.txt files are something that can be interpreted into readable data.

Annonomus Penguin

I propose that we implement everything as a Python API. Later we can write a parser for the data and then just create new objects

@QPaysTaxes well, not really an API, but just like a library in a way

I added a new page and I'm writing a proposal (just note that I'm not trying to take control here, I'm just writing out ideas)

Should we call this BetterName?

Ethan Bierlein

All for it.

Mast

@AnnonomusPenguin aBetterName

I never use underscores in Python

Ethan Bierlein

Well, if a_better_name is a class, then it should be ABetterName.

Otherwise, underscores should be used for functions and variable.s

Oh dear, amm, hmm... Furiously ponders naming...

Mast

6:50 PM

!pic

@QPaysTaxes Yea, it got screwed.

Ethan Bierlein

I hate how google docs automatically formats quotes.

Thank goodness you can just press CTRL-Z to make them normal.

Annonomus Penguin

So, gameplay

Do we just want commands "look" and "move"?

So "look north" → "there is a tasty porcupine to the north"

@QPaysTaxes so then this makes it virtually impossible to have the gamemaker use a text file without a scripting language

This is what makes it so hard to write game engines

Ethan Bierlein

7:07 PM

The inability to co-op?

Annonomus Penguin

@QPaysTaxes I was just saying adding a minimal set of features so that they could "plug and play" in a way

No pun intended

@QPaysTaxes hmm

We could do a core engine and then have "plugins" where people can copy & paste commands

;lkjsdaflk;dsfalkfsadsdf XD

Inventory support would be good too

But we also want the framework flexible enough early enough

Ethan Bierlein

As bendy as a rubber band

Annonomus Penguin

@QPaysTaxes I meant to create a plugin "system" now and then compose the basic features out of them

Kinda like a Linux approach to games

@QPaysTaxes how rigid are unicorns? I've never seen one in real life

@QPaysTaxes I'm questioning you here

I'm a penguin in real life, you see

haha

"How did you hit that 7?"

@QPaysTaxes check your back

Ethan Bierlein

Wow, that got really creepy.

I'll be back in a bit. I'm on another call w/ my friend.

Annonomus Penguin

@QPaysTaxes poor souls like me :/

@QPaysTaxes well, not on CR anyway

I'm a mod on Arduino SE and Community Building

hehe

ok

Ethan Bierlein

7:29 PM

k seeya

Ethan Bierlein

7:42 PM

Wow, you have some good ideas @AnnonomusPenguin

Annonomus Penguin

@EthanBierlein Thanks! Anything in particular that you like?

Ethan Bierlein

Nothing in particular atm.

@QPaysTaxes I like your idea. I think mine is probably the least-documented so far. Probably not the one to use either.

Annonomus Penguin

@EthanBierlein is a MapPosition() a block, more or less?

Ethan Bierlein

Yeah

Annonomus Penguin

@EthanBierlein I see

I got that idea from you

That's what I thought you were trying to do in the original code, but I wasn't sure

Ethan Bierlein

7:52 PM

Yeah, my original method wasn't the greatest. It's one of the reasons I nuked it.

And decided to start over.

Annonomus Penguin

@EthanBierlein I like the idea of having the object type matched to the function

But it seems like a lot of repetitive typing

Ethan Bierlein

Hmm, yeah..

Annonomus Penguin

In my proposal I had it so it was on a higher option so it would work for multiple blocks (like a god-mode delete command needs one implementation)

Oh, I'm going to take a break here. My proposal is more or less finished; feel free to critique it. I just need to figure out how to do menus now...

It seems like all of our ideas are compatible! This is really cool with three people writing a spec for a program

Ethan Bierlein

Okay, sounds good. My proposal still has a lot of work.

*to do.

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