Prep-school games

During the preparatory classes, free time was scarce, and a lot of it went into Pygame. These games were never published; they were made to be played in the evening, two players on one keyboard. They still run today, give or take a few image paths. The most complete one, Blobby Volley, has its own page.

Truc jaune (January 2019). Two cars, each with its own keys on the same keyboard, and a small yellow thing that always runs from the nearest car. Whichever stays closest scores points. A black hole roams and drains health on contact, mushrooms speed you up, bonuses restore health. The top of the file lists what was meant to follow: traps to lay, collisions between cars, a “green thing” able to throw an opponent off the screen.

Football. A top-down pitch and one team of eleven placed according to a formation; the opponents were never written. You control one player at a time, switching from one to the next, with one key to sprint and another to control the ball. The ball has a height, so it can go over the players, with a power bar for shooting. The wish list says the rest: spin, back-heels, nets in the goals.

Pool. A table and balls hitting each other. It is mostly a test bench for elastic collisions between circles, the basis of everything that bounces in the other games.

Soccer Stars. A take on the mobile game of the same name. A small physics engine is started, bodies with a shape, a density and a friction; the game is not.

Strategy game. The longest of the files, close to a thousand lines: a large map dotted with trees, trees to plant and warehouses to build from buttons, each with a cost, a capacity and an upkeep, and money and wood shown at the top. A version with hexagonal tiles was tried alongside. The list of what was missing goes far beyond what exists: berries to gather, building sites, soldiers, needs for the inhabitants, terrain relief.