Python Logo on a stylized background

Python Style Guides

In my pursuit to update my open-source Python Twitter bot, the retweet-bot, I decided to implement style recommendations followed by other open-source projects. This led me to use Pylint and follow the official PEP guidelines in the project. However, I was not prepared for the level of difficulty and pain that followed while implementing style guidelines. While my codebase now follows a consistent style found throughout the open-source Python world, it presented numerous pain points. Through this article, I aim to provide an overview of the pros and cons of Python style guidelines, and to enlighten readers to view these guidelines as flexible, especially for older codebases.

As developers, we have a responsibility to ensure that our code is of high quality and meets certain standards. This is the primary focus of Python style guidelines, and we will explore the pros and cons of both Pylint and PEP8 in this article. I will share my perspective as a relatively novice Python developer.

Continue reading →
My Top 5 TV Shows Of 2018

My Top 5 TV Shows Of 2018

2018 was another stellar year for television, it was also the year that streaming became the most watched thing in my household something I hadn’t expected to happen for at least another few years. Similarly to last year, this post will look at the 5 shows that had me hooked and that I would recommend to any fan of TV.

Altered Carbon

Altered Carbon Header

Altered Carbon was one of the most highly anticipated TV shows of the year for sci-fi fans. The book series was long regarded as some of the best-written cyberpunk stories ever so when Netflix announced they’d be doing a big budget adaptation the hype was real. The show delivered on that hype and then some. It was a sheer visual spectacle from start to finish featuring some of the best CGI I’ve seen on a TV show. That isn’t to say the storytelling was awesome as well, it was as good if not better than the visuals. I’d regard this as a must see for any sci-fi fan.

Continue reading →
Global Game Jam 2018 Header

Global Game Jam 2018

Having spent the past 2 months working on both the Microcosm Framework and Super Blasty Blasty V2, I felt that I needed a bit of a change of pace and decided to join in with #GlobalGameJam2018. This was the perfect opportunity to put the framework into action with a fresh project that could be far smaller scope than Super Blasty Blasty V2. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any time on the Friday or Saturday to take part but I wasn’t ready to let that stop me taking part, so on Sunday morning, I set myself a challenge to get something built and “released” in 12 hours.

Needless to say, this was a bit ambitious. But I did it! My initial plan had been to get a fully polished release on the Google Play Store in these 12 hours, looking back this was a ridiculous goal. The version I quote unquote released was far from polished, but it was functional on Android devices and had some great features, mostly thanks to the Microcosm Framework doing its job exceptionally well in saving me development time.

Continue reading →

Retro Game Header Image

Looking Back At Bob’s Space Crusade

Bob’s Space Crusade was the first game I ever published, it was released on Kongregate, on the 30th of December 2011. It was my first project using Unity3D and it served as a great learning experience in actually getting something out there to be played by the world. It was by no means a masterpiece but the character (who I still have plans to resurrect in future projects) and core mechanic was great. This post will talk about how Bob was originally brought to life and the process that was behind that.

Going into this project I had a single focus, keep things simple. I didn’t want a spiralling list of features that could never be achieved, I just wanted a core mechanic that was fun and simple. This was for a couple of reasons, the main being I didn’t have enough experience to actually finish a large expansive project. The main goal of the project was to finish it, which I did. In hindsight, I would say the scope was too restrictive, the project in its initial state didn’t play particularly well and would have benefitted greatly from an increased development time.

Continue reading →

Resident Evil HD Header Image

Classic Game Design: Resident Evil

One of the greatest games to have ever been produced is, without doubt, the original Resident Evil, it pioneered the survival horror genre and became a must have hit on the PS1. The series may have strayed far away from these humble beginnings but there are a lot of lessons that modern game developers could learn from taking a step back and reanalyzing it, or rather the remake that was released on the GameCube. The remake is the version of the game that has been modernized with HD textures for current generation consoles and for good reason, it has aged fantastically well.

Whilst the visuals may have received a few upgrades the core mechanics at the heart of the game remain the same, the central plot is unchanged and even the sometimes shaky dialogue is all still there, for better or for worse. This article will try to look at 3 of the great design decisions they made to really help amplify this game into a true horror experience and how game designers could learn from these features.

Continue reading →