Development Environment

Python is a free, cross-platform, open source scripting language that allows rapid prototyping and testing. It is fully object-oriented, and provides garbage collection. It is known for being extremely flexible and extensive, and has hundreds of libraries for a wide variety of purposes. The game will be developed under Linux, as it has very effective free tools for use with Python, including a text editor with auto-indentation and syntax highlighting, support for multiple versions of Python, and debugging tools. The python interpreter will be invoked via the command prompt so that the game can output debugging information and potentially parse command-line arguments. All artwork will be produced using tools such as GIMP for sprites, tiles and portraits. During development, many builds will be released for both Linux and Windows which consist of standalone executables packaged with all game resources (artwork, sound, music).

Alternatively, it would be possible to program the game in C++ and still retain important features such as portability and tools, but the Pygame library included with Python allows for faster development time. Flash is also an alternative option, but it is commercial and costs a considerable amount more than we desire to spend.

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