[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Author Index][Thread Index]

Re: [pygame] pygame and the indie world today



On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 9:11 PM, Sean Wolfe <ether.joe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Im getting back into pygame after a little while. I've got some game
ideas that I'm really looking forward to developing into prototypes.

Question for you guys. Where do you think pygame sits in comparison to
other indie development game technoligies like Unity or Unreal
Development Kit? There has been so much activity in the indie game
world lately and new resources brought in. Is pygame still relevant?

For me, I still like writing code as opposed to using an interface
like Unity. As far as UDK is concerned, it seems like all the
creativity there is in the art and creatives. Which is great, but I
don't want to run another Unreal game... I want to experiment with the
interface a bit.

Is anybody working on a FPS framework in pygame? Or would that be
redundant with these other technologies?

Anyhow... I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!
Hi,

PyGame is, and continues to be a predominantly 2D library, and as such is by itself a poor choice as a game engine (particularly a 3D one).  That said, PyGame is a VERY solid foundation for whatever else you want to do.  I built an entire graphics library using PyOpenGL and PyGame capable of plenty of fancy and realistic effects in 2D and 3D. 

I like PyGame because it provides a framework of useful functions and a windowing system.  You can open a window, load images, transform them a bit, draw them in places, play sound and music, and do a couple other useful things.  However, I find it's these tasks in particular that are most annoying to make when creating new software; that PyGame does it for you is extremely convenient; and moreover, it's very good at what it does.

Anyway, having used it for years, it's a completely solid library.  It won't give you a ton of specialized features, but it will give you very robust and useful basecode to get started making whatever you want.  Even if you're out to make a 3D game, you'll find it's completely capable of handling the environment, as well as interfacing drawing to PyOpenGL.  I've found PyGame superior to all other windowing systems, and I've used it for practically all my major Python projects.
 
Ian