Pylot / Blog: Recent posts

Just wanted to let everybody know that I have effectively ceased development of Pylot. But, there is a silver lining to this raincloud! Due to performance problems related to pygame, I am in the process of converting the code to Lua, using the LOVE library. The transition is nearly complete and I will start a new project page as soon as I'm happy that the conversion is reasonably complete. My aim is to release the new version with at least the same features as Pylot 0.40, if not more. Since the game will no longer be written in Python, it seemed appropriate to lose the "Py" in "Pylot", and I have at least temporarily settled for the name "L-Pilot," although I'm not completely happy with that title and am looking to change it. If I do add any new features, I will increase the version number appropriately. If I choose to release the straight conversion before adding more features, I will call it L-Pilot 0.40.... read more

At long last, the next step in Pylot's evolution is here!
Most of the new features in Pylot 0.40 were implemented over a week ago, but a couple of tricky bugs held up its release. I have finally squashed them, more or less. I'm not entirely happy with the collision detection, which has trouble with corners, but it's still a lot better than it was. If you DO happen to get stuck, or fall through a wall, I've added a handy self-destruct feature. It can also be used if you get yourself stranded because you forgot that the ship now has limited fuel. But don't worry, if you're getting close to empty you can land at a base and top up your tank!... read more

One of biggest updates yet, 0.37, has arrived! The game is looking much more like XPilot than Asteroids now. For a list of all the new features, check out the Changelog in the Wiki. I have also released a new version of the level editor, PylotEd 0.35.

Some of you may be wondering why I haven't provided executables of Pylot. The main reason was that I couldn't figure out how to do it! After struggling with py2exe and giving up, I used Pyinstaller and after a little bit of fiddling was able to compile Pylot into an executable.... read more

Stage II is already shaping up quite nicely. 0.33 adds one of the largest features yet, polygonal terrain. 0.30 introduced the new tiling system, making way for worlds that expand beyond the confines of the window, but the background was a simple test bitmap, to make sure world scrolling worked correctly. 0.33 adds a bit of new gameplay, since you are now able to crash into terrain in addition to dodging the asteroids that magically pass through walls unharmed (though your bullets seem to have the same magic ability). Rest assured, the next release will have less magic.... read more

I lied. After posting 0.27, I discovered some bugs that managed to slip under the radar. So I fixed the bugs and released 0.28. Please let me know if you discover any more bugs. I have already moved on to (and completed) the 0.30 release, which is the first release of Stage II. Note that 0.30 is very experimental and won't look much like the final release of Stage II. If you want to see what the end result (currently planned as 0.50) will look like (more or less), download XPilot-NG. That is basically what I'm looking to emulate.... read more

I have just posted 0.27 in the downloads section and updated the repository. This is the final release of Stage I - I hope you enjoy it.

It will be a while until the first release of Stage II, as I will be doing a significant overhaul of the physics (I'm converting the physics from Euler to Verlet integration, as I've heard it's better), switching to a ship-dependent viewpoint, and adding a backdrop with walls and pixel-perfect collision detection, as the first few steps toward turning the game into an XPilot clone.

In my last post I said I was working on an Alpha 0.25 release. Well, I decided to increase the version number to 0.27 as I developed a new numbering scheme for the project. Essentially, I increase the version number by 0.01 for each new feature I add. This is still somewhat subjective, since what gets to count as a "feature" vs. a slight tweak is open to interpretation, but it is better than the old system where I just guesstimated a version number based on how complete I felt the project was. I may have to revisit my scheme as I get closer to final release, as it is highly unlikely that the final product will consist of EXACTLY 100 features. I will try to keep the version numbers in line with my 4-stage plan for the development of the game, which is as follows:... read more

I am currently working on an alpha 0.25 release, which will be the final release of the "Asteroids" phase. The biggest visible changes will be a main menu, an enemy UFO that periodically flies across the screen (bonus points!), and some tweaking to the bouncing physics that is presently very unrealistic (unless the asteroids are made of rubber). In the background, I am working on modularizing my code. As of 0.24, it is all in one big file, but I recognize that as this project grows, I'm going to need to organize it better. ... read more