Space Commander 0.4

Space Commander is a game that aims to be similar to Elite and Privateer, with maybe a bit of Trade Wars thrown in.

The project is a remarkably functional space simulation with under 200 lines of code in the main file.

DEPENDENCIES

You need a recent version of Python and some support libraries. The game is currently being written using Python v 2.4.3 but it may work with newer or older versions with some minor tweaking. I intend to be using Python 2.5 and PyGame 1.8 shortly.

· Python 2.4.3
· PyGame 1.7
· Numeric 22.0

Basically you need a pretty complete Python kit. Most Linux distributions should have everything that you need and Windows / OSX users will be able to install it all with a small bit of effort.

To play the MIDI score in Linux you have to install and configure Timidity due to some old code in sdl-mixer which is a pre-dependency of PyGame. If the game crashes and
complains about midi, just comment out the MIDI line in spacecommander.py to disable it.

As to performance issues. I pass the buck. If it runs too slowly then get a faster computer, better graphics card, better operating system, whatever.

The idea of writing this in Python is to have a compromise between ultimate performance and the ability to understand and tinker around with the code.

You could try reducing the number of stars in the galaxy by editing bigbang.py also.

Feel free to re-write the game in hand optimized assembler, but you must send me a copy of your code per the LICENSE.

RUNNING THE GAME

Linux: ./spacecommander.py

KEYBOARD COMMANDS

ESC / Q: Quit the game
Left / Right: Yaw
Up / Down: Pitch
PgUp / PgDN: Roll

What's New in This Release:

· The main engine was completely rewritten and now supports flying a spaceship around a randomly generated galaxy. 2D rendering of objects using PyGame is supported.
· Mouse flight control is featured.



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