Pyskool 0.3 has been released. Visit the download page to get a copy.

The main change since 0.2.4 is the addition of over 100 configuration parameters and command arguments to tweak in the ini files. Note: ini files (plural), which is the other thing: the monolithic ini file has been split up into multiple ini files in a single directory:

• command_lists.ini - command lists
• config.ini - configuration parameters
• font.ini - font character bitmap descriptions
• lessons.ini - the main timetable and lessons
• messages.ini - messages
• skool.ini - walls, floors, doors and other parts of the skool
• sprites.ini - sprite and character definitions

This split makes it easy (for example) to drop in a complete replacement for all the messages in a game simply by replacing messages.ini. And having all the messages in a single file will make it easier (for example) to create a localised version of a Pyskool game. (You’d need to create a new skool font too; perhaps I should start looking for some free bitmap fonts to distribute with Pyskool so that we can have Monsieur Roquitte teaching la chimie some day.)

0.3 also includes a couple of utility scripts: createini.py, which I use to generate and maintain the ini files; and extract-png.py, which extracts graphics from memory snapshots of the original skool games and creates PNG files (like the ones included in Pyskool).

Looking forward to 0.3.1 (or 0.4, as it may be), I have been experimenting a bit with Python’s pickle module recently to see if it could work as a back-end for saving and restoring games. I’m not sure yet if it’ll be up to the job, but we’ll see.