Comments on John Resig's "Programming Book Profits" (and on Self-Publishing)
Tue 11 June 2013 Al Sweigart
Text Adventure vs. MUD vs. Roguelike vs. Dwarf Fortress
Wed 05 June 2013 Al Sweigart
A text-style game is a common project for beginner programmers. These can be fun to do, but also require spending time up-front to design it is worthwhile. Before you start designing your own game, look at the design decisions of a few different text-style game genres.
Multithreaded Python Tutorial with the "Threadworms" Demo
Mon 22 April 2013 Al Sweigart
"Hacking Secret Ciphers with Python" Released
Mon 15 April 2013 Al Sweigart
My third book, Hacking Secret Ciphers with Python, is finished.
What Professional Games Use Pygame?
Tue 19 February 2013 Al Sweigart
A list of commercial video games that use Pygame.
Why I Recommend Against Hackety Hack
Thu 27 December 2012 Al Sweigart
Hackety Hack was a project originally started by _why the lucky stiff to teach kids programming in Ruby. It often comes up in "I want to teach my kid programming" forum threads. So I downloaded Hackety Hack and decided to give it a try.
I found Hackety Hack to be frustrating and was very unimpressed with it, and do not recommend it as a way to teach programming to a beginner.
8-bit NES Legend of Zelda Map Data
Mon 10 December 2012 Al Sweigart
I've created Python & Pygame script that lets you walk around the overworld map of the original Legend of Zelda game on the 8-bit Nintendo. There are no monsters or levels or items; it is simply a walking tour. The Link walking sprite animation is implemented by my Pyganim module.
Programming AI Bots for Zombie Dice
Wed 21 November 2012 Al Sweigart
(This blog post may be obsolete. Please read "Writing Bots to Play Zombie Dice" instead.
PygButton - Designing a Button UI Module for Pygame
Tue 30 October 2012 Al Sweigart
A button is a common user interface (UI) control that is used in many software applications. It seems simple enough: there's a button on the window and you click on it and something happens. But there's a lot of details we should plan out ahead of time. Remember, we want to make a generic button class so that other programmers can use this in their games and programs. Once you've read through the process here, you'll be familiar with how to make your own modules for UI elements.
Am I Too Old to Learn Programming?
Thu 27 September 2012 Al Sweigart
How Does Compression Work?
Fri 17 August 2012 Al Sweigart
"Zip" programs that can compress multiple files into one smaller .zip file are fairly popular for downloads since the fewer bytes you have to download the faster it will download. But how do you compress files? Files are made up of ones and zeros, which can't be squished like clothes into a tight suitcase.
Source Code Makeover: Square Shooter, Part 3
Mon 13 August 2012 Al Sweigart
This is a continuation from Part 1 and Part 2, where I go through the source code of Square Shooter, an Asteroids clone, and try to redesign the code to be more readable.
Source Code Makeover: Square Shooter, Part 2
Fri 10 August 2012 Al Sweigart
This is a continuation from Part 1, where I go through the source code of Square Shooter, an Asteroids clone, and try to redesign the code to be more readable.
Source Code Makeover: Square Shooter, Part 1
Thu 09 August 2012 Al Sweigart
In this blog post, I'm taking a game off of Pygame.org and going through it to make it more readable and extend its functionality. You'll see an example of how to take code that works and changes to improve it's design (but more importantly, I explain why I make those changes).
Need a Game Idea? A List of Game Mechanics and a Random Mechanic Mixer.
Mon 30 July 2012 Al Sweigart
If you need an idea for a game, try this random game mechanic generator.
Using Trigonometry to Animate Bounces, Draw Clocks, and Point Cannons at a Target
Wed 18 July 2012 Al Sweigart
How to use trigonometry in your Pygame games.
16 Common Python Runtime Errors That Beginners Find
Mon 09 July 2012 Al Sweigart
Figuring out what Python's error messages mean can be kind of tricky when you are first learning the language. Here's a list of common errors that result in runtime error messages which will crash your program.
A Common Programmer Mistake: Dog is not the Opposite of Cat
Thu 21 June 2012 Al Sweigart
True is the opposite of false. Up is the opposite of down. What is the opposite of dog?
A Modest Proposal: Please Don't Learn to Code Because It Will Damage Your Tiny Brain
Wed 16 May 2012 Al Sweigart
Implement a "Save Game" Feature in Python with the shelve Module
Thu 03 May 2012 Al Sweigart
This post goes into the details of how you can add a "save game" feature to your Python games.