DoomPy

:: a python gui to keep track of scores while playing Doomlings

Disclaimer: This is a private project and I took the liberty of borrowing the official icons from the Doomlings website. I hope that's ok with you guy's from Doomlings :) - and of course: go buy the game, it's super fun!

Introduction

Doomlings

Ever since friends backed the original version on Kickstarter and the game finally arrived, we've been more than just addicted to Doomlings from the very first second. Unfortunately, we don't live too close to one another, so we only see each other every few weeks/months. But WHEN we do, it's set in stone that at least (!) one Doomlings session has to be played!

I guess anyone who knows the game knows how much you can annoy each other by stealing or swapping yet another trait from the trait pile. And sometimes you don't even want to, especially not to jeopardise the peace that has just been restored. But if it has to be done, we thought it would only be fair if the player in the lead becomes the target.

So we always tried to get a quick overview of the others' points. But with all the scoring rules, it's quite difficult to work out who's in the lead. Especially as we extended it to 4 catastrophes at some point.

+ Python

After many years of MATLAB and several unsuccessful attempts to switch to Python, I finally started using Python at the end of 2023 and turned my back on MATLAB for good. And what's the best way to learn a programming language? Exactly: With an interesting project!

= DoomPy

So it was only natural for my first python project to be a Doomlings live points counter. Consequently,

"Doomlings" + "Python" = "DoomPy"

was born. With DoomPy you can easily allocate the traits to the respective players trait piles, select catastrophes & MOLs, and thus see what the score looks like at any time.

Methods

If you take a look at my code, please keep in mind that I'm new to Python and forgive the, very likely little Pythonic, chaos.

In the past I've been coding mostly in academia, especially with MATLAB. Therefore my coding style is very procedural. I have never coded in an object-orientated way. So I'm sure that there would be a much more efficient OOP alternative, especially in this case where players/traits/MOLs/ages are predestined to be defined as a class... but that might be a project for the future when I learn OOP.

How to run it

As this is also the first time that I am sharing a Python project with the world, this also poses new challenges for me. I think (hope) it should be possible for anyone with the provided requirements.txt to set up a virtual environment in which DoomPy has to run.

1. getting the repo

Download the latest release (or the current repository) and unzip it. Or if you prefer to use the terminal, run

wget https://github.com/azabicki/DoomPy/archive/refs/heads/main.zip

or

curl -L -O https://github.com/azabicki/DoomPy/archive/refs/heads/main.zip

(see comment on curl)

2. virtual environmant

Install the virtual environment with the tool of your choice. You find a requirements.txt in the repo base folder

3. go play

Finally, run

python /path/to/DoomPy/main.py

and have fun playing Doomlings!!

further requirements

Display Resolution: This is a very important aspect, since the GUI takes a lot of space. Especially if you play with 4 catastrophes and many rounds. And depending on which traits are played, it may happen that the height of the trait pile is larger than the screen, making it impossible to select MOLs. With 4 players and 4 catastrophes and on a 1800 x 1200 display, we ocasionally run into problems.

Hence, if possible:

• use a higher vertical resolution as 1200 px if played with more than 3 catastrophes
• use a wider horizontal resolution as 1800 px if you play with more then 4 players.

Results

Depending on your OS Dark-Mode, DoomPy looks like this:

The GUI consist of mainly two parts:

• The Control box on the left, where you
  • set some options for the next game
  • deal traits from the deck to the players trait piles
  • select catastrophes world's end events
  • turn some options for the current on and off
• and Trait Piles on the right, where you
  • see the player's current score
  • organize each player's trait pile (i.e. playing, attaching, swapping and discarding traits)
  • select MOL(s)

Overview

I hope that the handling is self-explanatory. Especially if you've already played a round or two of Doomlings. But just in case, you can find more detailed explanations here.

(see short demo video at the bottom)

How to: Controls

• Game Options:
  • Set the amount of players, size of gene pool, amount of catastrophes & MOLs.
  • Name the players, but keep the correct order at the table, because some effects affects the players to your left or right.
  • The radiobutton to the right of the names defines the first player (name is green). It can be changed at any time during the game, and changes automatically after each catastrophe.
  • Click on start game to clear the table and restart the game.
• Deck:
  • Search for the name of a Trait. As soon as there is only one possibility left, the cursor jumps automatically into the list.
    • Click on clr to clear the search field.
    • You may also just use the down-arrow key or the mouse to select a trait.
  • Click on the player-button to deal the selected trait into his/her trait pile.
  • Please note: If you play Heroic, a pop-up will be shown & asking if Heroic is played during the Birth of a Hero age (to bypass the 2-dominant restrictions).
  • There are ambiguous traits in the deck! In these cases additions to the names should resolve any uncertainties:
    • {A}: trait has an action
    • (~): face value is variable
    • (2): numbers in parenthesis show the face value
    • (WE): trait has a world's end effect
    • (b), (g), (p), (r) or (c): color of trait is blue, green, purple, red or colorless
• Catastrophes & World's End:
  • Every time a catastrophe is turned, select it from the dropdown box.
    • First player is automatically changed.
  • Since Prepper is able to choose the World's End effect, you may need to change it manually.
  • As soon as every trait's world's end effects are resolved, click on th GO! button to activate the actual World's End effect.
• Settings:
  • As a joke, we thought it could be funny to record our own little Sound-Bites of all the "quotes" on top of every trait. But until now, we only added some generic mp3's. Turn it on and be surprised 😄 (or annoyed 🙄)
    • Music Off
    • Music On
  • You can change which Trait Property icons will be shown in the trait pile:
    • Default: basic properties about the trait + effects
    • None: only effects
    • Full: all properties (requires a wider screen!)
  • Select 'Scoring Mode', i.e. how the current scores are shown:
    • Points: show all the points
    • Rank: show only the rank of the players
    • Hidden: do not show any points

How to: Scoreboard

The Scoreboard shows for each player all the relevant information.

• Dominants:
  • Stars - - indicate how many Dominant Traits are in the trait pile
• Name:
  • Is green if player is the current first player
• Gene Pool:
  • Shows current Gene Pool of the player
• # of Colors:
  • displays the current Color Count, as well as the complete trait count in the trait pile
• Total Points:
  • Depending on Settings, you will see either the Total Score, the players current Rank, or a Star-Symbol hiding the current score.
• Points by Category:
  • = Face Value
  • = Drop Points, as far as possible to be calculated automatically
  • = World's End Points, as far as possible to be calculated automatically
  • = MOL Points, as far as possible to be calculated automatically

How to: Trait Pile

Here is an example of a trait pile, showing many (hopefully almost all) possible situations that may happen:

Handling of Traits

• First, select any trait by the Radiobutton on the left (with exception of dominant traits and attachments).
• Then, decide if you wnat to move this trait to another players trait pile, put it back to the hand, or discard it.

The actual Trait Pile

• Each Trait:
  • Has an icon depicting its Color and Face Value.
    • See Wild for a multi-color example.
  • A vertical line separates these properties from any effects.
• Drop Effects:
  • If a trait has a drop effect, it is indicated by a Drop and a Value icon.
    • See Backbiter for an example: its drop effect is worth 3 points, since Zombified is in the trait pile.
  • If drop effects are based on the player's hand or the discard pile, they cannot be calculated automatically and need to be set manually.
  • This is only possible once World's End has been played
    • See Serrated Teeth as an example.
• Attachments:
  • Are indicated by an Attachment icon instead of the radiobutton on the left side (it cannot be discarded by its own).
  • Select the Host in the drop-down menu, which is then also marked by an Attachment icon.
    • Ex. 1: Lyonization on Dragon Heart -> Dragon Hearts drop effect is now inactive, which is shown by the Question Mark and the Effects inactive icons
    • Ex. 2: Nano on Mycotoxins -> Nano has a drop effect, which is now worth as much as the Hosts face value
• Dominant Traits:
  • Are indicated by a Dominant icon instead of the radiobutton on the left side (it cannot be discarded by its own), and a different font style.
• World's End Effects:
  • If a trait has a World's End effect which needs to be set by the player, a drop-down menu is shown.
  • This is only possible after the last Catastrophe happened.
    • See Viral for an example

Effects from other Trait Piles

• If you are affected by another player's traits, these effects are listed under your own trait pile.
  • See Shiny as an example.

How to: MOLs

• Simply select the desired MOL at any time.
• This way it is possible to play with a common MOL and having it evaluated immediately.
• If a MOLs points cannot be calculated automatically, an entry field appears where the MOLs points can be set.

World's End

At the end of the game, certain steps need to be done in a order which is pretty much the same as the actual ones you perfom IRL.

1. Once the last Catastrophe is played, you are able to select the traits world's end effect.
   • E.g. for Viral in the trait pile above.
2. And once every traits world's end effect is selected, the GO! button becomes enabled and you can go and trigger the World's End effect of the selected Catastrophe.
   • Note: Eventually you need to enter the world's end point manually.
3. Then, you need to manually update Drop counts if certain traits are played.
   • E.g. for Serrated Teeth in the example above.
4. Maybe someone has Neoteny ?
5. Finally, select each players MOLs.

And that's it. Have fun using it!

---

Important

Discard Dominants and Attachments!

Of course, there is a little back-door for you to remove dominant traits and attachment from your trait pile, in case you played them by mistake. Just click on the vertical line separating the traits basic properties from effects.

Tip

Individual standard game settings!

You are always playing 4 catastrophes? With the same people? Two mols? Don't worry! You don't have to change the settings again and again. Just open the doompy/config.json file and edit the defaults according to your playing style.

Tip

Use keyboard shortcuts!

I tried to design the handling of DoomPy as smooth as possible. For the major time of the game you do not need to use the mouse or trackpad, dealing trait into the different trait piles, changing focus to specific catastrophes, of bringing focus back to the seach field, you can use keyboard shortcuts for every one of these actions:

• as soon as a trait is selected in the deck:
  • key 1 to deal it to player #1
  • key 2 to deal it to player #2
  • key 3 to deal it to player #3
  • ... and so on
• switch to catastrophes:
  • key F1 to catastrophe #1
  • key F2 to catastrophe #2
  • ... and so on
• key F7 to quickly jump into search entry

Tip

Customise the Deck!

You can customize which traits are in the deck by editing the ./doompy/files/cards.xlsx file. Just change the in_game column to no to remove the trait from the deck, or edit the n_cards columns to change the amount of traits in the deck.

Tip

Make your OWN sounds!

If you like the Music function, you can just record your own sound bites and add the to the doompy/sounds/ folder. It only has to be named like the corresponding trait, and it should be recognized & played by the script.

Discussion

Bugs Found?

I have tested DoomPy quite intensively and we have also used it in several real games, which has also brought some bugs to light. Nevertheless, it is of course possible that some bugs have slipped through. If you find a bug, just open an issue! I will take care of it as soon as possible!

Ideas?

Do you have any suggestions for improvement? Have I forgotten to add a trait? Or any other ideas or criticism? Just create an issue and I'll get back to you :)

Demo

demo_small.mov