When learning Python, I decided to have a bash at writing a game using Pygame - a Python wrapper for SDL, for the geeks :) The result was a fairly simple Pong game. Reading the source would be a good way to introduce yourself to making a full game in Pygame (after reading the chimp tutorial provided on the Pygame web site). TomPong is also (at time of writing) being used as part of a computer science course in object orientated programming at Princeton University in the USA, as a point of reference for a Java Pong game :) Some fun soul ported TomPong to the Nokia 770.

For those interested in making their own games, I have written a tutorial in making games with Pygame that accompanies TomPong. It describes how to go from making things appear on the screen, to implementing a simple game of Pong. You can find it here.

Currently implemented features are:

• A snazzy ball and two equally snazzy bats are drawn onto the screen
• A nice title, and scoreboards for each bat are there too
• The ball moves around with proper, realistic physics (using vectors)
• You can hit the ball with your bat, and if you miss, the other person scores
• You can pause the game with "p", and toggle the fullscreen mode with "f"
• Moving the bat whilst hitting the ball produces spin
• A simple ai with configurable skill level

As you can see, it's very advanced :) I've just completed a simple spin model (view source to see it - it's the checkspin() function in the Ball class).

TomPong was inspired by, and in part based on, Pypong, which can be found at:
http://www.mrexcessive.net/games/gigglebubble/ The images for the bat was taken from LBreakout2 by Michael Speck, which can be found at: http://lgames.sourceforge.net/index.php?project=LBreakout2.

Controls:
space bar - release ball to start playing
a & z - up and down, player 1
up_arrow & down_arrow - up and down, player 2
p - pause
f - toggle fullscreen

Command-line options:
-f - start in fullscreen mode
-d - start in debug mode (good to find bugs/watch how it works)
-s=x - make ball speed equal to x
-ai=x - have computer control second player, with skill equal to x (0-10, where 10 is best)

A screenshot:

Download:
tompong-0.5.1.tar.gz (23.4kb)
tompong-0.5.tar.gz (23.1kb)
tompong-0.4.tar.gz (22.7kb - added GPL LICENSE file)
tompong-0.3.tar.gz (14kb!)
tompong-0.2.tar.gz (10kb!)

Installation:
Dependencies:

• python (version 2.2 or better recommended)
• pygame (version 1.5.3 of better recommended)
• a sense of humour

Changelog:

• TomPong 0.5.1
  • Bugfixes provided by Andy Meier:
  • Version number correctly displayed in-game
  • Bug whereby score would sometimes go up several times fixed
  • AI movement more smooth, and more interesting
• TomPong 0.5
• Various performance enhancements submitted by John Popplewell
• Completion of accompanying Pygame tutorial
• TomPong 0.4
• Changed player class structure to allow different classes of player
• Added AI player class with configurable ability (speed of bat)
• TomPong 0.3
• Added simple spin dynamics
• Made a fancier background with logo
• Made ball start "stuck" to bat, requring user intervention (press space) to start game
• TomPong 0.2
• Added background image
• Added score counting and scoreboard
• Added algorithms to correct ball angle if too steep
• TomPong 0.1
• Started project!
• Created ball that bounces round the screen, and runs off sides
• Created bats that are user-controlleable
• Made ball bounce off bats
• Stole ball image from KBounce
• Stole bat image from LBreakout2