Signed Explorations

Signed Explorations is an exploratory puzzle game that aim's to teach users Auslan fingerspelling.

Sometimes the end is a new beginning, especially for those who have power over MAGIC. Wielders of this forgotten art are never truly gone Their souls, guarded by an ancient being of unfathomable power can be ignited once again. So long as they have the power to learn the ways of their forgotten language

Play as an undead cat wizard on a quest to be resurrected. You'll need to explore the world and solve puzzles in order to rediscover your body. As a ghost, you can't directly affect the world, so you'll need to work together with your friend, a helpful dog, to make your way. To communicate, you must sign your intentions. Explore the world and interact with objects to better learn the signs you might need to talk to your friend.

The Team

• Treffery Webb (@tweeeb) | Developer
• Joseph Metcalfe (@Josephjmet) | Developer
• Hannah Hinckfuss (@HannahHinckfuss) | Designer
• Ethan Roderick (@E-Roderick) | Developer
• Aditya Modi (@Airo1011) | Designer
• Thomas Webber (@tomwebber4398) | Designer

Game Development

Dependencies

• python 3.10.4
• arcade 2.6.15
• Tiled 1.9.1

Install instructions

Setup has been based around virtual environments, with some provided scripts assisting the process.

Steps:

1. Install python.
2. Enable execution of scripts with chmod +x scripts/*.
3. Run environment setup script scripts/setup.sh from the top level directory of the repo.
   • For Windows Command Prompt, use scripts/batch/setup.bat instead.
4. Apply patches based on installed packages by running scripts/apply_patches.sh.
   • There is no Command Prompt alternative file.

Note for M1 Mac users: Additional steps may be needed to get tensorflow working on your device. The gist of this is that you need to install the appropriate tensorflow packages and have the correct protobuf version.

env/bin/pip3 install tensorflow-macos
env/bin/pip3 install tensorflow-metal
env/bin/pip3 install protobuf==3.19.4

Development

Starting Work

When working on the project, development should be carried out inside of the virtual environment. There are several ways of doing so.

• From the terminal:
  1. From the top of the repo, run source env/Scripts/activate. Change the activation script used to suit your dev environment (OS/shell).
     • source env/bin/activate for non-Windows.
  2. When finished, run deactivate to finish with the virtual environment.
• From VS-Code:
  1. Open the repository folder (default "signed-explorations") in VS-Code. It is important to open the ENTIRE directory with VS-Code.
  2. Open the Command Palette with Ctrl+Shift+P (Cmd+Shift+P for Mac users).
  3. Search for Python: Select Interpreter.
  4. From the provided options, select the Python version listed as ('env': venv). It should be the recommended option.

Installing New Packages

If your environment's packages are out of date, simply run scripts/update_packages.sh from the top level of the repo. A .bat is provided for Command Prompt.

If you have added a new package for development, run scripts/add_packages.sh from the top level of the repo; then, commit the changed requirements.txt file. A .bat is provided for Command Prompt in scripts/batch/.

Development Example

An example of running the setup process in a *Nix-style terminal environment.

git clone https://github.com/tj-heat/signed-explorations.git
cd signed-explorations
chmod +x scripts/*
scripts/setup.sh
scripts/apply_patches.sh

# To begin development
source env/bin/activate
...
# To finish development
#(env)
deactivate

Development Guides

• Physics engine: Pymunk Platformer Tutorial
• Top Down Implementation: Pymunk Top Down Tutorial
• Scene, Screen, and basics: Arcade Platformer Tutorial

Run Game

Open signed-explorations directory in preferred terminal and run:

# On Windows:
env/Scripts/python.exe main.py

# On Mac/linux
env/bin/python main.py