Writings from the author of Automate the Boring Stuff.
Posted by Al Sweigart in pygame
The Caesar Cipher Wheel is a paper cutout that can be used to perform encryption and decryption in the Caesar Cipher. However, if you don't have a printer but do have Python and Pygame installed, you can use this Caesar Cipher Wheel program to rotate a virtual cipher disk instead.
Posted by Al Sweigart in pygame
Draw out horizontal, vertical, or diagonal lines in the same directions that the dot moves. The pattern of the dot's movement becomes longer and longer.
Posted by Al Sweigart in pygame
Pygcurse (pronounced "pig curse") is a curses library emulator that runs on top of the Pygame framework. It provides an easy way to create text adventures, roguelikes, and console-style applications. The mascot of Pygcurse is a blue pig with a skull tattoo on its butt.
Posted by Al Sweigart in news
I've decided to make the incomplete rough drafts of my next two Python books available.
Become a Codebreaker with Python
Making Graphical Games with Pygame
The emphasis is on "rough" and "incomplete", but I thought it would be better to give a preview of the direction I was going. These books are also available under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license like the first "Invent with Python" book.
Posted by Al Sweigart in programming
This is a mistake a lot of new programmers make. The coder comes up with some clever trick or that can save a few bytes of memory or shave a few nanoseconds off of a function. You must learn that these "clever tricks" aren't really worth it.
Posted by Al Sweigart in programming
This is a programming tutorial for beginner and intermediate programmers who want to learn what recursion is. The programming language used for the examples is Python, but you can probably follow along if you know programming in some other language such as PHP or JavaScript.
Posted by Al Sweigart in pygame
Here's the source code for a Bejeweled clone called Gemgem, written in Python with Pygame.
Posted by Al Sweigart in pygame
Here's a Sokoban ("box pusher") clone called Star Pusher. I've used the graphics from the Planet Cute collection. You'll need Python (2 or 3) and Pygame installed to run it. Just download and unzip the files to the same directory. It comes with 201 levels from David W. Skinner.
Posted by Al Sweigart in pygame
I've made a Connect Four AI in Python with Pygame.
Posted by Al Sweigart in pygame
I wanted to share this link to a great site with some simple Pygame examples:
There is also a textbook draft called "Introduction to Computer Science Using Python and Pygame" by Paul Vincent Craven.
Posted by Al Sweigart in python
"MooseGesture" is a Python module that implements a basic mouse gesture recognition system. It can identify gestures made up of strokes in the eight cardinal and diagonal directions.
Posted by Al Sweigart in pygame
I've compiled a list of free graphics and sound files that you can use in your games. The chapter on using graphics and sound files with the Pygame library is in Chapter 19 of the "Invent with Python" book.
Posted by Al Sweigart in pygame
Made a new game with Pygame. It's called "Squirrel Eat Squirrel", where you move your squirrel around the screen eating the smaller squirrels and avoiding the larger ones. The more squirrels you eat, the larger you grow.
Posted by Al Sweigart in pygame
I have a text version of a Connect Four clone done. The AI for it looks ahead two moves, which makes it fairly impossible to beat unless you concentrate.
Posted by Al Sweigart in news
I'd just like to announce that "Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python" has just sold its 1000th hard copy since it's gone on sale last May.
Posted by Al Sweigart in programming
Here's a cipher disk that you can print and cutout to help you manually implement the Caesar Cipher. Simply download and printout the PDF and cut out the two circles and place them on top of each other.
Posted by Al Sweigart in pygame
Welcome to the Code Comments Tutorial for Flippy, an Othello clone. Code Comments is a series of simple games with detailed comments in the source code, so you can see how the game works.
Posted by Al Sweigart in news
Posted by Al Sweigart in pygame
Welcome to the Code Comments Tutorial for Tetromino, a Tetris clone. Code Comments is a series of simple games with detailed comments in the source code, so you can see how the game works.
Posted by Al Sweigart in pygame
Welcome to the Code Comments Tutorial for Snakey, a Nibbles clone. Code Comments is a series of simple games with detailed comments in the source code, so you can see how the game works.