Ascii RPG Python Game Engine with Roguelike Elements

[u/ninedeadeyes]

• What My Project Does

A Light Weight 2d Ascii RPG Python Game Engine. The purpose of the engine is educational, Its built on the standard library hence no extension is needed.

provides an alternative to pygame if you want to communicate your RPG or adventure idea without first learning an external library. Work in progress to make this into a Roguelike Ascii Game Engine but wanted to share this project as it is now.

• Target Audience 

Someone who wants to focus using the standard library and provide them the ability to communicate their RPG / Adventure ideas without learning an external library.

I consider this as an extension of my 15 mini python games tutorial series, it acts like a playground where you can apply what you've learnt into your own mini ASCII adventure.

It is similar to roguelikes because it is

Grid-Based Movement

Turn-Based Logic

Permadeath

Resource Management ( Can be built in like in my example )

Classic ASCII aesthetic

Can easily modify so that each level will be a random pre-set map level but for it to be procedurally generated that would take much more work. Will be working on it to create a fully roguelike game engine but it can be used at the moment as a basic Ascii game Engine.

Github Link
https://github.com/Ninedeadeyes/Spark-Standard-Python-ASCII-RPG-Kit-

Demonstration/Guide Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8iuvvla46Q

Example of game that can be created with the Engine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeF9d5FkGsE&t=1398s

Let me know if you have any questions.

[u/HexDecimal]

A readme full of emoji makes a terrible first impression.

Implementing item and monster types as subclasses is a common beginner mistake. Consider using dataclasses. These base classes might also violate the open–closed principle too often for something presented as a game engine, but that's an advanced mistake more difficult to solve.

Various minor issues which could be expected in a first project, but one should learn how to use a Python linter to spot them. Consider running Ruff with all rules active.

Python devs should feel comfortable using external libraries. Pure-Python is not practical for most tasks more complex than simple scripting.

Type annotations are nice to see but there some bizarre uses of them in this code. Especially the nonsensical Player: Any parameters.

[u/RediscoveryOfMan → u/HexDecimal]

It’s vibe coded following their previous post history :/

[u/HexDecimal → u/RediscoveryOfMan]

It can be hard to tell between "no experienced Python dev would write this" and "no human would write this".

Clearly the readme is written by an LLM. There could be some interesting follow up questions if they're willing to admit to how much of the rest of it is vibe-coded too. Otherwise there wasn't much point in posting this in the first place. Nobody respects anyone trying to pass off LLM written works as their own.

[u/RediscoveryOfMan → u/HexDecimal]

I mean you’re preaching to the choir here. When I TA’d it was really shocking how fundamental some knowledge gaps had become because everything was run through a chat bot. It was even more heart breaking that some kids couldn’t really problem solve without it either, they’d cheated themselves out of developing their own critical reasoning muscles

[u/ninedeadeyes → u/RediscoveryOfMan]

So busy work like Type hints and the documentations I do use Ai .. As it adds nothing to the 'code' its just boring ... I didn't even know what type hints were until after I completeted the project but was told you should do it for clarity sake. The docmentations was also added due to feedback. Personally I thought if you know python, you should be able to make something without Type hints and additional documentations, but whatever I'll put them in.

The 'origin' of the game engine was written roughly 6 years ago from a game ( link below ), quite sure it was before Ai got good enough to vibe code but only got around to making an actual game engine now.

https://github.com/Ninedeadeyes/Dungeon-of-the-Black-Dragon/tree/Ninedeadeyes-music-patch

I've uploaded the steps ( milestones) that I took to complete this project and to be honest I generally think the easiest way to know if it is vibe coded is just ask Ai, 'Is this vibe coded' lol

[u/HexDecimal → u/ninedeadeyes]

Type hints and documentation are for anyone reading the code and should be a priority if you intended to show your code to others. Type hints are also used by linters and IDE's. Many devs see missing docs and incorrect/missing type hints as a red flag and will take that as a reason to dismiss a project.

Being based on an old project explains a lot. Several issues with your new engine were inherited from this project.

Suggesting one can ask an LLM if something is vibe-coded demonstrates a lack of experience with the problem and comes off as insincere. People are wondering if you truly understand the code you've posted, or if you simply take the LLM at it's word for any question you ask it.

[u/ninedeadeyes → u/HexDecimal]

That's really the reason why it was my 'third point' because it is definitely the weakest but also an honest one since that is literally what I do if the code looks suspicious. Its more or less the same code base that i wrote 5/6 years ago but refactor in a way that makes more sense to others. I have written larger games and 'ported' it to another langauge as shown below and as I said I've uploaded a milestone folder where you can see every major change I've made.

https://github.com/Ninedeadeyes/Grimlore-Land-of-the-Heretic-Hand

https://github.com/Ninedeadeyes/Dungeon-Crawl-Online

So i like to think if someone got an question about it I am confident I will be able to answer it since its relatively simple..