To use this program, you will need to install pygame (gaming/drawing engine), which can be found in the lib folder of this project (32/64-bit files were both included).
If you're not using Python 3.5, you will probably need to download the correct version of it yourself here.
Move the .whl file to C:\Wherever\Python35\Scripts.
Then, open a CMD line under that directory and run the command pip3 install filename, where filename is probably pygame-1.9.2a0-cp35-none-win32.whl or something similar (remember to install 32/64-bit based on what Python you're running).
As far as this tech demo goes, you can download as zip through GitHub (over on the right-hand side) and run main.py with Python 3.5 or honestly whatever Python 3 version you installed pygame under. Shouldn't matter too much.
PyCaster reads in an image (by default, res/world.png, this is configurable) to use for its 2D map.
The image is parsed at runtime and finds a player tile (where the player starts) and a boss tile (where the boss of the level is located) based on a configurable color of pixel.
This file controls various game-related settings.
Elements are added using the format element=value.
The following elements currently support direction Python code evaluation (so that the user may input special values such as math.pi, colors, etc.):
angle, FOV, text_color
| Developer Tools | |
| devtools: | Whether or not developer tools display in the top left |
| World/Rendering | |
| worldname: | This is the image file that the program reads in as the game map |
| block_lines: | Whether or not the blocks are outlined vertically |
| light: | Lighting level surrounding the player |
| text_color: | The color of the battle and developer tool text |
| locked_res: | Whether resizing the window keeps the fixed resolution or fits to the window |
| screen_x: | Starting width of the window |
| screen_y: | Starting height of the window |
| Controls | |
| forwards: | Key to move forwards |
| backwards: | Key to move backwards |
| left: | Key to turn to the left |
| right: | Key to turn to the right |
| strafe_left: | Key to strafe left |
| strafe_right: | Key to strafe right |
| Music | |
| battle_music: | Music played during normal random encounters |
| boss_music: | Music played during boss encounter |
| hit_sound: | Sound effect played when the player attacks |
| Player | |
| angle: | Starting angle of the player in radians |
| FOV: | Starting field of view of the player in radians |
| HP: | Player hitpoints |
| hand_sprite: | Sprite displayed in front of, or in the hand of, the player over the terrain |
| Battles | |
| min_encounter_steps: | Minimum amount of steps to a random encounter |
| max_encounter_steps: | Maximum amount of steps to a random encounter |
| action1: | The name of the first battle action |
| action2: | The name of the second battle action |
| action1Message: | The message that displays when using the first battle action. This supports using two '{}', where the first is replaced with the enemy name and the second with damage. |
| bossFleeMessage: | The message displayed when the player tries and fails to flee a boss battle |
This file controls the possible monsters and bosses that are encounterable in PyCaster
Monsters are added using the format "filename.png", ["monster_name", hp, attack], "monster_type"
There currently exist 2 types of monsters, "normal" and "boss". Normal monsters are automatically added to the random encounter system and may be fought anywhere on the map. Boss monsters are automatically added to be encountered when the player hits the boss tile.
Permadi Raycasting - Somewhat outdated, but still solid to understand the concept behind raycasting. (To give you an idea, the article was published in 1996)
Open Game Art - Source for the enemy sprites and battle music
BFXR Sound Effect Generator - Source for player hit sound effect