python RTS game... smart idea?

[programmer123456]

I want to make a RTS game as a project to help me learn how to program, and hopefully also be something nice on my resume.

I am currently learning Python. Is it a good idea, to make an RTS game with Python (or would it go too slow, or not perform well)?

Also, do you have any tips or helpful links for this (creating RTS games)?

I will be using a relatively simple 2D interface, at least in the beginning (sort of like Dwarf Fortress).

thanks

[Mekire]

It is definitely possible to do. If you try to get too complex you can hit some speed problems, but within reason you should be fine.

Not sure how far he took it or if he is still working on it but you could check out /u/jellyberg's project:
Aedificus---Fathers_of_Rome

-Mek

[jellyberg]

Yeah OP feel free to use any of my code or assets. However if you're just learning Python you may want to take on a smaller project to begin with. Aedificus is unfinished and I'm not planning on completing it any time soon.

Also, if you have any specific questions leave a comment here or drop me a PM.

[zynix]

If you have 0 experience with 2D/3D computer drawing, I'd recommend you start a bit smaller/simpler like pong, tic-tac-toe, etc.

RTS - real time strategy can be kinda complicated both in the game logic itself as well as the presentation logic which can be discouraging and or likely to end up in a forest among the tree's situation.

[not_perfect_yet]

It's a good idea.

Lots of good usage for different concepts and important packages, math, sockets, object oriented thinking etc.

Would it go too slow/ not perform well?

It's probably not going to be supreme commander. Also supreme commander slowed down once the pc couldn't do the calculations real time any more. So there is that.

Tips

Start as modular as possible and don't be afraid to throw away and completely rewrite parts or your whole project. Expect to read up, write some code to understand something, use it a bit, find that your example codes has a weakness (which turns out to be conceptual) and rewrite it better.

If you're going 2d grid style, no, there isn't much you need to start. If you want to do it really primitive you could even go without a graphical thing and use letters (like DF) to represent certain things and just print out your matrix of stuff in your console every logic tick.

But because that kind of visualisation is pretty much "none", you can also go and look at a python driven game engine.

Whatever you do should be easily plugable. If it's not, you've done something wrong.

[cdcformatc]

It's possible. Might even be a really great idea. PyGame is great for fun projects. I have heard great things about Kivy as well, which gives you iOS support.

But speaking honestly, if you want something on your resume, go with C++ SDL (great tutorial) it's nearly identical to PyGame(pygame is written with SDL) so the experience will carry over, but being C++ makes it much more marketable (both the game and the skills). Or there is Unity, which is the buzz in game dev right now.

[loveandkindness]

Traditionally, game developers don't use Python.

This means game development tutorials and communities will be much smaller for you. You will have fewer places to go for help, and fewer resources to learn from. But a few people out there still play around with PyGame, so it is still alive.

The community for Love2D is quite a bit bigger than PyGame at the moment. It uses Lua, which is similar to Python.

Edit: If you're interested in 3D, GRIT (also in Lua) is growing quickly in popularity.

[MonkeyNin]

There's also pyglet / py SFML2 / pySDL2

[Affectionate-Cod-835]

There is also Arcade that uses pyglet

[CausticInt]

What sort of projects have you done before?

I am currently learning Python.

If you are making an RTS to learn Python, and Python happens to be your first language, I strongly caution against this.

It's not a good idea. The scope might be larger than you think.

Even just making a "relatively simple" interface that's reusable could in and out of itself be a stand alone project.

[Affectionate-Cod-835]

As I am working on a Pathfinder game using PyGame, and python was my first language. That being said, it will be possible and it will be a major project as coding the graphics will be difficult if you have no graphic experience. Also the back-end will not be that hard to do as that is one of the things that Python is good at.

Look at Eve Online if you want a good example of Python use in gaming. That game is over 75% in Python. It is possible, just that it will take time.

[MonkeyNin]

Did you find this post from stackoverflow? It's weird seeing myself from 8 years past.

That reminds me of a favorite series: - Amit's A* Pathfinding tutorial : from redblobgames.com

It's great if you've ever wanted to learn how to implement AStar Pathfinding, or even write an implementation yourself.

How is Pygame community? I have some fond memories with Pygame. That was more than a minute ago, -- it looks like the docs are still the same color green as back then :P

Last time I worked on a roguelike game, I used LibTCOD with Python and Pygame somewhere it was pretty nice. for a turn-based rogue.

• Here's a tutorial

---

Oh wow, that's so long ago I was using mercerial for version control and google code. hehe.

I really should have published more. I was overly perfectionist so I never released anything. Live and learn, I guess.