pyglet = Bullet Heaven? /python

Doing Pyweek stirred up some memories of another competition I did a while back over at Shump-Dev. I did not end up completing my entry because I just could not squeeze enough performance out to get enough bullets on screen at once. Last night, while speaking with a friend about indie game development, I started to wonder how well pyglet could handle thousands of bullets on the screen at once.

This is just a quick demo, but I am already able to see that pyglet can handle it remarkably well. The shot above is not of the stress test I did (which with an average of 1k bullets on screen at once was still able to maintain a steady 60 fps), but I thought it was one of the nicer looking ones. All this needs is joystick support *hint*, *hint* and I would be in heaven.

Pyweek 6 - Results /python

The judging is complete and the results are in. Robot Underground swept the team category, which did not surprise anyone. Let's just say that I am still playing it, even after the competition. It looks as if the dev team will be releasing a new version pretty soon, so everyone keep an eye out for that.

My own entry, Chain of Command, placed 10th in the solo category. Before the start of the competition, I would not have thought top 10 was possible. Toward the end ,though, I was feeling pretty confident. From the comments I received, it was quite clear that everyone thought it was too hard. On the other hand, most people found the game innovative, pleasing to the eye, and enjoyable (ranking a 2 or 3 in fun because of the difficulty and 4 or 5 in production and polish). There were just too many people who ranked me 1/1/1 or 2/2/2 all because of the difficulty which really brought my average down.

Thanks to everyone who left detailed comments. I worked very hard on CoC, and it was wonderful to feel the appreciation. You asked for better controls, more forgiving movement, and a smooth level progression. My post-pyweek release, which is already in the works, will include all of that and more.

I had a blast, met some cool people, learned tons, and came out with a fun game. I would say Pyweek 6 was a success.

Pyweek 6 - Chain of Command /python

RB[0], a fellow dev from GMR convinced me to submit an entry for Pyweek this year. I am truly glad that I did. I learned a lot and had a nice heaping of fun. Also, I believe I came up with a pretty fun game. I, at least, have had a good time challenging myself with new levels.

I set up a Google Code page to continue work on it. There are some things I would like to rework, and I am also working a level pack. If anyone enjoys the game well enough to make levels, feel free to send them my way, and I will consider them for inclusion in the next release.

I used Pyglet for my entry which made most things pretty easy to do. It certainly gave me the time to achieve the level of polish that I was able to. I did have to change to pygame.mixer for sound at the last minute. I really hope Pyglet comes along in that area. Other than that, it is a great media library!

Special note: Check out Celldoku which was coded by ldlework and jazzed up by fydo. It is is a grid puzzle game where you must set up a Game of Life 2D cellular automata so that on its next iteration it will be in the target configuration. This resonates deeply with some ponderings I had about 4 months ago and is great fun to play. Check it out!