On Nov 30, 2008, at 10:31 PM, lawpoop <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > On Nov 30, 8:10 pm, Joel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> I don't know of any platformer tutorials, but here's a pong one if it >> helps.http://www.adamzap.com/blog/?cat=5 >> I don't want to discourage you from using pyglet/python for this (and >> I'd love to see a platformer written with pyglet), but >> if the kid isn't that interested in programming so much as the end >> result, you might try using GameMaker. The free >> version is fairly full-featured, easy to use and can teach some basic >> programming. It's also >> designed with platformers in mind. The downside being it's not free >> software, only runs on Windows and won't teach anything other than >> its >> own >> scripting language. I gave up on it because I couldn't get a handle >> on >> some of its idiosyncrasies (and wanted to learn a real language, >> write cross-platform software, etc), but plenty of people have made >> some excellent games with it. > Joel, thanks for the input. > > This guy had been through a video game camp, and from what I gather, > it sounds like they used something not unlike what you suggest. > Ultimately this left him unsatisfied, because he felt that they > weren't doing 'real' programming. > > He told me that he wants to learn c++ on Windows, even though he has a > Mac, so he does seem to have the idea of "doing it right" or doing it > "for real". > > So he *does* want to learn programming, "real" programming. But I > don't think just sitting down and saying "This is a variable, this is > a function, this is an array, this is an object" is going to grab him. > He doesn't want a lecture in computer science at this point. He > doesn't want to learn programming in and of itself; he wants to learn > programming to make a video game. I guess it would be like the > difference between going into mathematics versus engineering. In both > fields, you learn math, but the ends are different. Maybe at some > point in the future he will want to learn more about programming in > and of itself, so > > My thought is, if he wants to do it "for real", he's not going to be > satisfied with an unpopular or uncommon scripting language. I don't > think at his age he would have the patience and perseverance for c > or c > ++; troubleshooting memory errors would just to too abstract and not > very much fun. At one point I was thinking of flash because of its > ease of use and instant graphicality, but it also costs and is not so > open-source. > > So I see python as kind of a compromise. You're not going to have to > deal with memory errors or other more abstract computer-sciencish > problems, but it is powerful enough to be a "real" language, and it > can probably take him as far as he wants to go. Or so I hope ;)
I know Python hasn't gained a huge foothold in the industry yet, but with careful design and implementation it is perfectly useable for production software - if you have any doubts on that, take a look at Eve Online (albeit implemented in Stackless Python). - Tristam > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "pyglet-users" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/pyglet-users?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
