Zorn 0.1.6 review

Zorn is a 2D top-view space shooter written in Python, using SDL and OpenGL. There is no story

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 0K Developer: Ben Deutsch

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Zorn is a 2D top-view space shooter written in Python, using SDL and OpenGL.

There is no story. Oh, there used to be one. A story about a fledgling civilisation, alien technologies, unfathomable enemies and valiant struggles.

This quickly gave way to survival, then to revenge, then to hatred and spite. Now, there is only the anger. The Zorn. And you are one with it.

Zorn is a 2D top-view space shooter. Zorn is pronounced "TSORN" and is German, meaning anger, rage or wrath.

Zorn is written in the Python language for maximum portability. Python is an object oriented, (originally) interpreted language with a wide base of library functions. Zorn uses OpenGL for graphics through the PyOpenGL bindings, and SDL for window management and input through the PyGame bindings. The rest is done with the standard Python libraries.

Despite the exclusive use of OpenGL for graphics, Zorn is a 2D game. However, using OpenGL has the benefits of hardware accelleration (where available, but I wouldn't try this without it), resolution and color depth independence, and free rotation and scaling. The main view is a top-down view of the player's ship, with the map rotating around the player, not vice versa.

Zorn is designed, from the ground up, to be an open source project. This does not mean that only an idea is provided, and the "community" is expected to magically jump in and do the heavy lifting. For from it: I (Ben) am currently confident I can write every aspect of the game (strategic AI would be beyond my experience, but (or therefore ?-) Zorn does not use any). Instead, the code is written with readability and reusability in mind.

Specifically, I hope that the code can serve as an example or tutorial of 2D graphics with OpenGL and Python, and I hope the individual "engines", at least, will be of use to someone. Perhaps even the entire game can be forked to create something entirely different!

Requirements:
The python language
The pygame library
The pyopengl library

What's New in This Release:
External:

Green background grid replaced by stars
More or less functional menu
Game area zoomable with page up and page down keys
First precompiled Win32 binary

Internal:

Much better collision handling
Perspective camera (for star field acceleration)
A few speedups and bug fixes