Dililatum

Have you ever heard of Dililatum?

Perhaps not. For Dililatum is Something New. Dililatum has a quest; and that quest is to distribute Python power to quest-oriented RPG-like computer-based keyboard-using video games. At least that's its purpose.

Dililatum can be considered a game engine, but in reality it's a game library. It is written in Python using PyGame for graphics and sound in games. Dililatum also depends on NumPy. More specifically, it's like this:

Dependencies

Dililatum depends on the following programs/libraries:

Python 2.5+
Dililatum is written in Python
<http://python.org/>
Debian etc.: apt-get install python
Fedora etc.: yum install python

PyGame 1.8.1+
Dililatum uses PyGame for its graphics and sound
<http://python.org/>
Debian etc.: apt-get install python-pygame
Fedora etc.: yum install pygame

NumPy
Dililatum uses NumPy for internal arrays describing
where it's okay to walk -- and where it's not ok.
<http://numpy.scipy.org/>
Debian etc.: apt-get install python-numpy
Fedora etc.: yum install python-numpy

Optional modules

Additionally, you can also install these libraries:

setproctitle
Changes 'python' to 'dililatum'
<http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setproctitle/>
sudo easy_install setproctitle

termcolor
Colors Dililatum's terminal output
<http://pypi.python.org/pypi/termcolor>
sudo easy_install termcolor

Details

Dililatum is released under the GNU GPLv3+ and is free software. Dililatum is downloadable from https://github.com/nqpz/dililatum/. The version of this Dililatum is v0.1. Many features are not complete yet.

For an example of what Dililatum is capable of, try downloading ForestQuest. It's available at https://github.com/nqpz/forestquest/. It's still a work in progress, but it works.

The logo of Dililatum, found in the "logo" directory, is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 (or any later version) Unported license. A copy of this license is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Installing

To install Dililatum, write this in a terminal:

$ ./setup.py install

After installing it, you can run it like this:

$ dililatum GAME

If you choose not to install it, the Python file you should run is called "dililatum" and located in the "bin" directory.

Note that Dililatum has many command-line options, which is why it's a good idea to run "dililatum --help".

Dililatum comes with several tools for more easily developing games. These are named 'dilatiumdev*'.

Documentation is available in the "docs" directory.

Developers are very welcome.

The original author of Dililatum is Niels G. W. Serup <ngws@metanohi.name>.

Missing features/TODOs

• The ability to have more than one layer of acceptable positions is currently lacking from Dililatum. It should be possible to change the ok-position-layer when the character did something, like crossing an invisible line.
• Code is lacking documentation.
• There are no formats to make complex things like conversations easy to create.
• Lots of better graphics and sounds must be created.
• An actual story must be created as well.
• Functions for graphical effects should exist.
• Probably also other things.

The mantra should be something like "objects, actions, connections, graphics, sounds".

This document has been released under the Creative Commons Zero 1.0 Universal license.