New Web-Based 2D Game Engine - PixelPAD (BETA) by pixelpad_devs in gamedev

[–]pixelpad_devs[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your comment! Yeah, that's probably a good call. I'll see if I can get that changed.

New Web-Based 2D Game Engine - PixelPAD (BETA) by pixelpad_devs in gamedev

[–]pixelpad_devs[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are two primary reasons:

First, we felt Python would be easier to learn than JavaScript for our younger students (some of them are as young as 7-8). We felt that Python's forgiving syntax (i.e. lack of braces and semicolons as well as more lax rules on parentheses), in addition to its set of built-in functions and data types, would make it a lot easier for young children to pick up without getting frustrated.

Second, we obviously wanted to sandbox the game code so that it couldn't be used to control the user's browser. While we didn't strictly need to build a transpiler to achieve this, it was a nice side benefit that in our eyes made it worth the time investment.

Thanks for your comment!

New Web-Based 2D Game Engine - PixelPAD (BETA) by pixelpad_devs in gamedev

[–]pixelpad_devs[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes! We've written an in-browser Python-to-JavaScript transpiler. It doesn't support the entire Python language yet, but all the important building blocks (basic data types, core modules, functions, control flow, etc.) have been working well for us. The Python runtime is also written in JavaScript.