Konami code - Python

Okay, so I was playing around with my game trying to figure out how to implement cheats. There's probably a more elegant way to do this, but I'm still pretty new to coding, so give me a break.

Basically I created a pause menu function. All my menu's work by implementing a menu with basic functions and attributes. You just feed the menu function some images to use for the screen, and set up a loop to watch for keystrokes or other input events.

Anyway, for the pause menu, I just have a simple background with two options available to choose from. It watches for input from the up, down, left, right, b, a,  keys. (went with the konami code for testing)  I set up two variables. code and match. code is an array that holds key strokes while match is used to determine if the keys were pressed in the correct order.

def pause(screen, font):
  images = ['menu.png', 'menu1.png']
  menu = Menu(images)
  menu.imgset = [pygame.image.load(images[0]), pygame.image.load(images[1])]
  pygame.sprite.RenderPlain(menu)
  clock = pygame.time.Clock()
  code = []
  match = ['u','u','d','d','l','r','l','r','b','a']
  while True:
    clock.tick(30)
    for event in pygame.event.get():
      if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
        terminate()

      if event.type == KEYDOWN:
        if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
          terminate()
        if event.key == K_UP:
          menu.changeup()
          code.append('u')
        if event.key == K_DOWN:
          menu.changedown()
          code.append('d')
        if event.key == K_LEFT:
          code.append('l')
        if event.key == K_RIGHT:
          code.append('r')
        if event.key == K_b:
          code.append('b')
        if event.key == K_a:
          code.append('a')
        if event.key == K_RETURN:
          if menu.pos == 0:
            #shared.PAUSE = False
            return False
          if menu.pos == 1:
            pygame.quit()
            sys.exit()
   
    code = code[-10:]
    if code == match:
      shared.CHEAT = True
      code = []
    menu.update()      
    pygame.draw.rect(screen,(0, 0 ,0),(0,0,800,600))
    screen.blit(menu.image,menu.rect)
    #drawText('Paused', font, screen, 350, 30)
    textobj = font.render("Paused", 1, (255,255,255))
    textrect = textobj.get_rect()
    textrect.topleft = (350, 30)
    screen.blit(textobj, textrect)
    pygame.display.update()


Here's the bit in the main loop that uses the pause and checks for the cheat variable before changing the background image:

def main():
  while 1:
    #set up variables, initialize sprites, etc, etc...
    .......
   
    for event in pygame.event.get():
      if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
        terminate()

      if event.type == KEYDOWN:
        #throw in a pause key
        if event.key == K_p:
          pause(screen, font)

    #check for cheat and blit images to screen surface
    if shared.CHEAT:
      screen.blit(backimage2,backrect)
    if not shared.CHEAT:
      screen.blit(backimage,backrect)
    screen.blit(attack.image,attack.rect)
    screen.blit(player.image,player.rect)
      
  pygame.display.update()

basically pressing p brings up the pause screen, and while in the pause menu, if the two variables match, it sets the CHEAT variable to true.

You could instead, have it add more "cheat" options to the menu, so you could turn them on and off. The way I did it, leaves the cheat on for the duration of the game. Like I said, there are probably better ways to do it, but this works. I'll probably post the whole game source at some point, but if you'd like to see it now, just let me know and I'll shoot you the source.

-newt

Calculate Car Loan

When run on my linux system

Here's a simple script for calculating a car loan using java:
package calculateloan;
public class displayFrame extends javax.swing.JFrame {
    //set up variables
    public float interest;
    public float price;
    public float dpayment;
    public int num_months;
    public float results;
    public float results1;
    public double cubed;
    /**
     * Creates new form displayFrame
     */
    public displayFrame() {
        initComponents();
    }
   
     ..........
                                 
    private void jButton1ActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {                                        
        // TODO add your handling code here:
       
        // set default credit rating
        interest = 0.15f;
        //find out credit rating
        if (jRadioButton1.isSelected()){
            interest = 0.05f;
        }
        if (jRadioButton2.isSelected()){
            interest = 0.10f;
        }
        if (jRadioButton3.isSelected()){
            interest = 0.15f;
        }
        //find number of months
        if (jComboBox1.getSelectedItem() == "5 years"){
            num_months = 60;
        }
        if (jComboBox1.getSelectedItem() == "10 years"){
            num_months = 120;
        }
        if (jTextField1.getText().isEmpty()){
            //set default value for price
            price = 15000.0f;
        }
        if (jTextField1.getText().length() != 0){
            //set price from fields if not null
            price = Integer.parseInt(jTextField1.getText());
        }
        if (jTextField2.getText().isEmpty()){
            //set default down payment
            dpayment = 0.0f;
        }
        if (jTextField2.getText().length() != 0){
            //set down payment if field not null
            dpayment = Integer.parseInt(jTextField2.getText());
        }
       
        //Print lines to test variable assignment
        //System.out.println(price);
        //System.out.println(dpayment);
        //System.out.println(num_months);
        //System.out.println(interest);
       
        //at this point fields are set. we can calculate payment
        //the calculation is (payment(rate/12))/(1-(1+rate/12)^-num_months)
        //i broke it down into several steps
        results = interest/12;
        results = price * results;
        results1 = interest/12;
        results1 += 1;
        num_months = -num_months;
        cubed = java.lang.Math.pow(results1, num_months);
        cubed = 1-cubed;
        cubed = results/cubed;
        //cubed is now a double with way too many decimal places
        //let's do a bit of math to round it to the nearest tenth
        //thanks to Obvius for this bit
        int tempInteger;
        cubed *= 100;
        cubed += (double).5;
        tempInteger = (int)cubed;
        cubed = (double)tempInteger;
        cubed /= 100;
        jLabel7.setText("Results: " + cubed);
       
       
    }                                       
    /**
     * @param args the command line arguments
     */
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        float[] anArray;
        anArray = new float[3];
        anArray[0] = 0.05f;
        anArray[1] = 0.10f;
        anArray[2] = 0.15f;
       
        .........
       
        /* Create and display the form */
        java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                new displayFrame().setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }
    // Variables declaration - do not modify                    
    .......           
}
Where ever you see "......." I've omitted some of the garbage netbeans adds. Obviously this is a snippet from a jframe project and the important bits are in tact. I set up a number of fields, dropdowns, etc, and a button that takes all of it to calculate the loan.
You should be able to do the same thing fairly easy using the design function within netbeans or a similar IDE.
-Newt

Hopefully Helpful

So I was coding a simple python game the other day using pygame, and I thought this might be helpful for someone:

class Test(pygame.sprite.Sprite):
  # Constructor function
  def __init__(self,x,y):
    # Call the parent's constructor
    pygame.sprite.Sprite.__init__(self)

    # Set init speed
    self.change_x=0
    self.change_y=0
    self.facing = 0 
    # Set height, width
    self.image = pygame.image.load('baddie.png')
    self.down = [pygame.image.load('baddie.png').convert_alpha(),
                 pygame.image.load('baddie1.png').convert_alpha(),
                 pygame.image.load('baddie2.png').convert_alpha(),
                 pygame.image.load('baddie3.png').convert_alpha(),
                 pygame.image.load('baddie2.png').convert_alpha(),
                 pygame.image.load('baddie1.png').convert_alpha()]
    self.left = [pygame.image.load('baddiel.png').convert_alpha(),
                 pygame.image.load('baddiel1.png').convert_alpha(),
                 pygame.image.load('baddiel2.png').convert_alpha(),
                 pygame.image.load('baddiel3.png').convert_alpha(),
                 pygame.image.load('baddiel2.png').convert_alpha(),
                 pygame.image.load('baddiel1.png').convert_alpha()]
    self.right = [pygame.image.load('baddier.png').convert_alpha(),
                  pygame.image.load('baddier1.png').convert_alpha(),
                  pygame.image.load('baddier2.png').convert_alpha(),
                  pygame.image.load('baddier3.png').convert_alpha(),
                  pygame.image.load('baddier2.png').convert_alpha(),
                  pygame.image.load('baddier1.png').convert_alpha()]
    self.up = [pygame.image.load('baddieu.png').convert_alpha(),
               pygame.image.load('baddieu1.png').convert_alpha(),
               pygame.image.load('baddieu2.png').convert_alpha(),
               pygame.image.load('baddieu3.png').convert_alpha(),
               pygame.image.load('baddieu2.png').convert_alpha(),
               pygame.image.load('baddieu1.png').convert_alpha()]

    self.imgcounter = 0
    self.imgvar = 0
    # Make our top-left corner a required input for the class
    self.rect = self.image.get_rect()
    self.rect.topleft = [x,y]
  
# Change the speed of the player
  def changespeed(self,x,y):

    self.change_x+=x
    self.change_y+=y
     
  # Find a new position for the player
  def update(self):

    # Get the old position, in case we need to go back to it
    old_x=self.rect.topleft[0]
    old_y=self.rect.topleft[1]
     
    # Update position according to our speed (vector)
    new_x=old_x+self.change_x
    new_y=old_y+self.change_y
     
    # Put the player in the new spot
    self.rect.topleft = (new_x,new_y)
    if self.change_x == 0 and self.change_y == 0:
      #self.imgvar = 0
      if self.facing == 3:
        self.image = self.left[0]
      if self.facing == 2:
        self.image = self.down[0]
      if self.facing == 4:
        self.image = self.right[0]
      if self.facing == 1:
        self.image = self.up[0]
       
    if self.change_x < 0:
      self.facing = 3
      if self.imgcounter == 0:
        self.image = self.left[0]
        #self.imgcounter =+ 1
      self.imgcounter += 1
      self.image = self.left[self.imgvar]
      if self.imgcounter > 1:
        self.imgcounter = 0
        self.imgvar += 1
        if self.imgvar > len(self.left)-1:
          self.imgvar = 0
         
        #self.image = self.left[self.imgvar]
     
    if self.change_x > 0:
      self.facing = 4
      if self.imgcounter == 0:
        self.image = self.right[0]
        #self.imgcounter =+ 1
      self.imgcounter += 1
      self.image = self.right[self.imgvar]
      if self.imgcounter > 1:
        self.imgcounter = 0
        self.imgvar += 1
        if self.imgvar > len(self.right)-1:
          self.imgvar = 0
    if self.change_y < 0:
     
      self.facing = 1
      if self.imgcounter == 0:
        self.image = self.up[0]
        #self.imgcounter =+ 1
      self.imgcounter += 1
      self.image = self.up[self.imgvar]
      if self.imgcounter > 1:
        self.imgcounter = 0
        self.imgvar += 1
        if self.imgvar > len(self.up)-1:
          self.imgvar = 0
    if self.change_y > 0:
      self.facing = 2
      if self.imgcounter == 0:
        self.image = self.down[0]
        #self.imgcounter =+ 1
      self.imgcounter += 1
      self.image = self.down[self.imgvar]
      if self.imgcounter > 1:
        self.imgcounter = 0
        self.imgvar += 1
        if self.imgvar > len(self.down)-1:
          self.imgvar = 0

It's a simple sprite created to help test some animations I created. Keeps track of directions and the update function flips through an array of images. You can easily adjust this to pull in images from a sprite sheet instead of using several image files.

It doesn't really do much else, but it's useful for testing out sprite animations.

-Newt