Alternatively, for the more low-level or algorithm-minded, I can recommend having a look at LÖVE[0] for Lua. I haven't done any graphics/sound coding in aeons (~15+ years?) but after twisting my ankle and getting stuck on the couch took the plunge and have learned a lot and got something playable[1] in a couple of weeks (almost!) from scratch, including learning Lua.
I'm screwing with LÖVE now for several reasons: it's viable on mobile, love.js runs in a browser, I like lua and want to learn more, and it reminds me of pygame which I like.
if you think LÖVE is fun, you might be enthralled by http://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php (someone has ported the pico-8 api to LÖVE, also, but the pico-8 tools are just wonderful.)
Yeah, Love's fun. But it can be a bit of a pain at times, especially if you're not used to more algorithmic/low-level games programming. Although it's by no means truly low-level...
How low level are we talking about? I'm tempted to learn Love, especially after having fun with LUA with Pico-8, but I also don't like spending a ton of time on low level things for hobby programming.
It doesn't seem too low level just by looking at its home page.
No, it's not really. I meant relative to producing content for someone else's game engine, using Lua/Love would be relatively more involved. It's not that hard. You can get to the level of writing shaders for graphics cards, or you can pixel-push and curve-render, or you can just plonk rasters on the screen. It's pretty straightforward, very fast and portable.
This seems pretty cool, extra neat it's in python.
I've always had a pipedream to code my own 2d zelda or chrono trigger engine. I just could never figure out where to start.
This was posted here earlier this summer. I've been working my way through it and it's really quite well done. Really goes over the whole process soup-to-nuts.
If you're looking for something similar but more in the style of Zelda games, check out http://www.solarus-games.org/ — cross-platform, Lua-based, and has a lot of stuff baked in (either from the core set or the Zelda "Link to the Past" asset set) that gets you up and running pretty quick. Also, there are tutorials on YouTube in both French and English that do a pretty good job explaining things.
This is really nice and brings back a lot of memories! My first line of code was for a small rpg maker(that had nothing to do with python) called rpg60 that made games for the nokia 6630. Since then I learn to write my own engine and anything and it's always a great learning experience! There are so many needed skills combined and it's very fun!
I didn't make the rpg60 engine and at the time I didn't really have much skills, the code i wrote was scripting code to program the game but I think it was made in C.
At the time I spent some time working with other italian guys on maintaining a small community around the tool but not much is left.
EDIT: now that I think about it I might actually still have it in some old HDD but it's in another country so you are unlikely to see it. What i did find is some screenshots from a Japanese web page! http://s60gamers.seesaa.net/article/17133227.html
Does not work very well if you happen to be using a monitor in portrait rotation. At least in Safari it will go fullscreen, and try to scale its game imagery to the same height as the browser window, without caring about the fact that this results in something a lot wider than the browser window.
He's saying submit an issue instead of bitching about it here. No one here cares that you use a portrait monitor but the author would benefit from that information.
Exactly what I was thinking... My middle son of 8, has really been getting in to tinkering with the Pi. Fun to geek out with the boy. Minecraft has taken a backseat to RetroPi so I think this is the next logical step.
Absolutely! My daughter is currently learning with the Rpi and this could motivate her more. Scratch is a bit too easy and pygame is too hard (although working on that).
[0] https://love2d.org/ [1] http://www.roguebasin.com/index.php?title=Zomia