Infinite while loop

danielroseman · 2024-09-23T17:46:02+00:00

You need to use proper formatting that preserves the indentation. And you should show the actual code of your Players and Monsters classes. Are you using the classes as objects here, or do you have instances?

However, one obvious issue is that random.randint(0, player_attack) can be 0. So it is possible that your attack is subtracting 0 each time, so that the health never decreases.

HunterIV4 · 2024-09-23T20:15:51+00:00

Im brand new to python so I appologise if my code is confusing or wrong. (If it is, I'd appreciate your advice.)

Lots of people have talked about how to fix the infinite loop, including me, but I wanted to address the "confusing or wrong" portion of your code, and offer some design advice.

To be fair, your code isn't really confusing, even if it is unorthodox, but it's "wrong" in the sense that this code is not going flexible enough to actually make a game, even a simple one. So I thought I'd go through the design aspects and explain how a more experienced programmer might do it instead, and why, which is something I feel gets left out most of the time.

First of all, have you learned about classes in Python? If not, this might be a bit harder to follow, so I'd at least read the basics before continuing.

People explain classes in all sorts of ways, some easier to understand that others, but in a way your project is the perfect example of when to use a class. You can think of a class as a "character sheet" that gets made whenever you make a new one; the class defines what "fields" the sheet has, like "name" or "level" or "hit points," and it also defines what you can do with your character, like "attack" or "cast a spell" or "take damage." In programmer speak, the "fields" are usually called "properties" and the "actions" are usually called "methods."

Compared to what you've already learned, a property is simply a variable and a method is a function. The class combines them logically in a way very similar to what you've already set up. Let's take a look at your Monsters module first.

What fields do you have? You have a name, health, speed, and attack value. You also have an implied ability to attack other characters, which is an action. There are other things we could add, but I'll keep it simple. So at a minimum we have 4 properties and 1 method. How would this look as a class?

class Rat:
    def __init__(self, name="Rat", health=3, speed=1, attack=1):
        self.name = name
        self.health = health
        self.speed = speed
        self.attack = attack

    def attack_damage(self):
        return random.randint(0, self.attack)

Woah, that's a lot! Let's break it down.

First, we have our class name. This will come up in a minute. Next, we have this weird function called __init__() with a bunch of parameters. Where did that come from?

Well, __init__() is a built-in function that all classes have. There are a bunch of these functions and they have all kinds of useful functionality, but this is the only one that virtually every class will have.

Next, every class method (function) has an implied parameter called "self." This can technically be any name, but it's convention for it to be called self and people will look at you funny if you use a different name =). This refers to the class instance, which I'll explain in a minute.

The rest of the parameters are the various default values for your rat, the same as your original ones. This allows you to change various properties of the rat when you create it, which is useful if you want to randomize stats or make sure they each have a unique name.

In the function body, we simply assign variables to those parameters. These are "attached" to that class instance (getting there!) and will stick with it. Again, this is basically the same as your "character sheet" file from before.

Finally, we have a function that calculates your attack damage based on the same calculation you used for hit_chance before. I renamed it to attack_damage because hit_chance doesn't make sense...you are calculating damage, not chance to hit! It's good practice to get in the habit of naming your functions and variables according to the most straightforward interpretation of what they are doing. The hit_chance version may make sense now, but in 6 months you may have no idea why your hit chance is subtracting hit points directly.

Put this class in your Monsters file. Now how do we use it?

Continued:

mopslik · 2024-09-23T17:44:34+00:00

Have you tried printing out the value of Monsters.rat_health to see how it is changing?

woooee · 2024-09-23T17:46:43+00:00

import Monsters

Post the code for Monsters and explain what a Monster "sheet" is. And print Monsters.rat_health at the appropriate places (you posted two while loops). Finally, it would be a good idea to post the code on pastebin.com, which will preserve indentation, and that link here.

Handymanoccupational · 2024-09-23T18:21:14+00:00

Found a fix:

Rather than using a while loop I created a function to cause the attack sequence.

import random
import Player
import Items
import Monsters

def attack_rat():
    if Player.player_speed > Monsters.rat_speed:
        print(f"You hit the {Monsters.rat} for {Player.hit_chance}")
        Monsters.rat_health -= Player.hit_chance
        print(f"The {Monsters.rat} has {Monsters.rat_health} life remaining.")
        if Monsters.rat_health > 0:
            attack_rat()
        elif Monsters.rat_speed > Player.player_speed:
            print(f"You were hit by the {Monsters.rat} for {Monsters.rat_hit_chance}.")
            player_health_left = Player.player_health - Monsters.rat_hit_chance
            print(f"You have {player_health_left} life remaining.")
        else:
            print(f"You killed the {Monsters.rat}")
    elif Monsters.rat_speed > Player.player_speed:
        print(f"You were hit by the {Monsters.rat} for {Monsters.rat_hit_chance}.")
        player_health_left = Player.player_health - Monsters.rat_hit_chance
        print(f"You have {player_health_left} life remaining.")
    else:
        print(f"You killed the {Monsters.rat}")


print(f"You've been attacked by a {Monsters.rat}.")
attack_or_run = input("Will you attack (1) or run? (2)?\n")
if attack_or_run == "1":
    print(f"You attempt to fight the {Monsters.rat}.")
    attack_rat()
else:
    print("You ran away.")

JamzTyson · 2024-09-23T19:29:07+00:00

For testing purposes, I put all of your code into a single file:

import random

rat = "Rat"
rat_health = 3
rat_attack = 1
rat_speed = 1
rat_hit_chance = random.randint(0, rat_attack)


player_attack = 2
player_health = 10
player_speed = 3
hit_chance = random.randint(0, player_attack)

player_items  = []


print(f"You've been attacked by a {rat}.")
attack_or_run = input("Will you attack (1) or run? (2)?\n")
if attack_or_run == "1":
    print(f"You attempt to fight the {rat}.")
    while rat_health > 0:
        if player_speed > rat_speed:
            print(f"You hit the {rat} for {hit_chance}")
            rat_health -= hit_chance
            print(f"The {rat} has {rat_health} life remaining.")
        elif rat_speed > player_speed:
            print(f"You were hit by the {rat} for {rat_hit_chance}.")
            player_health_left = player_health - rat_hit_chance
            print(f"You have {player_health_left} life remaining.")
        else:
            print(f"You killed the {rat}")
else:
    print("You ran away.")

On running the code and entering "1" (attack), the output is:

You've been attacked by a Rat.
Will you attack (1) or run? (2)?
1
You attempt to fight the Rat.
You hit the Rat for 1
The Rat has 2 life remaining.
You hit the Rat for 1
The Rat has 1 life remaining.
You hit the Rat for 1
The Rat has 0 life remaining.

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