The CodeMaster is a spin-off sci-fi mystery based on the
1988 RPG platformer game Pac's Revenge.
program: The CodeMaster. Nightmare on Bots' Island.
name as a package: codemaster
version: 0.0.5
author: Joan A. Pinol
author_nickname: japinol
author_gitHub: japinol7
author_twitter: @japinol
description: A spin-off sci-fi mystery based on Pac's Revenge
series games by @japinol (c) 1987, 1988, 2015, 2021, 2024.
Python requires: 3.12 or greater.
> Yes, this is a spin-off of an old game from the same author,
myself. ; )
> Original Pac's Revenge (1987-88); ahead of its time story:
> In a world where humanity has expanded for several planets of
the nearby galaxies, there is an environmental menace about
to explode.
This menace would have catastrophic consequences for
the settlements
in the Systems of Draco II, Hydrus I, and the very Milky Way.
When the United Federation of Planets (UFEP) detected the worst
environmental probe results in several years, they were
not taken by surprise.
They thought they knew who was behind all this, but they
could not prove it just then.
Present time:
Some weeks ago, all communications from the Negasus System
were stopped.
So, the UFEP cannot be sure if its government and leader is still
the same, that is, Tetsuo Yagami.
Given the seriousness of this crisis, the UFEP send their best
scientific secret agent to find out what is going on in the
Negasus System, to collect evidence of transgressions of the
UFEP laws, and to minimize the environmental crisis
if possible by reducing radiation waste.
> Pac's Revenge had two parts, that I called phases:
> Part 1:
Pac travels with his spaceship to the Negasus System.
Soon he discovers that entering the Negasus System will
not be easy,
because of the barriers and traps surrounding it.
But finally, he beats the Negasus exo-defences and arrives
at Orus, the most industrialized planet of the Negasus System
where its government lies.
> Part 2:
Pac lands his spaceship on the outskirts of the planet.
He takes his anti-radiation briefcase and enters what
clearly is a very industrialized land.
The platformer part of Pac's Revenge game started this way.
Pac with his special briefcase starts to collect all the
radioactive batteries that he can find while bypassing
the security defenses and traps.
In the platformer part of the original game, our protagonist
did not have any weapon, he just could dodge the industrial
machines and robots that he encounters.
A lot of industrial robots make this difficult, but finally,
Pac arrives at the government offices.
There, he discovers that the country's government has been
transformed into a dictatorship at the hands of a tyrant
who calls himself Great Emperor Tetsuo.
Tetsuo's motivation seems to be acquiring power and money
to attract cute young women.
The fact that G.E. Tetsuo receives him sitting on a throne
that is actually a toilet makes Pac suspect that he has
to deal with a madman.
Someway, Pac must come back to de UFEP headquarters
with the batteries he has recovered, and prove what
is happening in the Negasus Imperial Planet.
Finally, Pac beats Tetsuo escaping from Negasus and
completing his mission.
> What made Pac's Revenge an interesting game was dealing
with philosophical and political issues in a futuristic world:
environmental contamination, techno-ultra-liberal government
despotism, and sexual exploitation.
Well, in fact, there was no other character in the game,
so it had no woman on it.
> The CodeMaster. Nightmare on Bots' Island ...
> Takes place some years later.
> Pac is considered a hero at the headquarters of the UFEP.
> Pac now has a girlfriend, Kaede, to whom he wants to propose
(he met her in Pac's Revenge 2).
> For this reason he travels to the planet where Kaede's father,
Kaito, has his kingdom, but something there is wrong.
> Questions you will not get an answer from this demo:
> Will Pac get Kaede's hand from her father?
> What is really happening in Kaito's kingdom?
> Who is the CodeMaster and what does he have
to do with all this?
> Demo version:
> This is an early demo version of the game.
In fact, currently, this is the only version.
> This demo does not have a story to accompany the action of
the game.
> We live in an open world:
> 'The Codemaster' is an open-world RPG platformer game.
You can move around all levels whenever it makes sense to
the story.
> To beat the game:
> In this demo, you just have to get all the batteries
and files disks from all the levels.
> Levels:
> In this demo, levels are completed by getting all the batteries
and files disks.
> What happens in a level, stays in that level.
> This means that when you leave a level, all effects and NPCs
in that level get paused; to be reactivated as soon
as the player enters that level again.
> This is not a bug, it's a feature.
Yeah, really. It is a design decision.
> Number of levels implemented for this demo: 24.
> Doors:
> Use them to go to other levels.
> To unlock a locked door you need to use the right door key.
> Colors:
> Some objects and NPCs in the game represent their difficulty,
utility, power, or effectiveness by using colors.
These are such colors ordered from lower to higher:
> Green: Low level items or NPCs.
> Blue: Medium level items or NPCs.
> Yellow: Better than medium level items or NPCs.
> Red: High level items or NPCs.
> Player movement:
> You just can move left, right or jump.
> Player level up:
> You can level up by gaining experience points.
> When you level up you improve your skills:
> Currently, you just get skills when you level up to level 2.
This is what you get:
> Energy Shield A
> Vortex of Doom B spell, in slot 1.
> Vortex of Doom A spell, in slot 2.
> Lightning Bolt A spell, in slot 3.
> Doom Bolt B spell, in slot 4.
> Doom Bolt A spell, in slot 5.
> In the future, your stats will be level-up-friendly
and we will add more skills.
> Player actions:
> Eat an apple from your stock.
> Drink a health potion from your stock.
> Drink a power potion from your stock.
> Get items automatically just by colliding with them.
> Enter in unlocked doors just by approaching them.
> Use the right keys on locked doors to unlock them.
> Activate/deactivate an energy shield.
Only if the player has reach a certain level.
> Activate/deactivate magic NPC selector (pressing m).
> Choose current magic attack (pressing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc)
> Choose 0 to have no spell ready.
> Cast spells that target an NPC:
> Vortex of Doom.
> Lighning Bolts.
> Doom Bolts.
> Kill its current life by pressing the <b> key for a time.
> Player's ways of dying:
> A player dies if all his lives are killed.
> A life is killed:
> When its health is lower than 0.
> When the player falls into a hole reaching the lower
screen boundary.
> When the player is stuck in some trap and press the <b> key
for a time.
> Information in the score line:
> First line:
> ====: Health bar.
> Heart: Remaining lives.
> Batteries: # of Batteries you have recovered.
> XP: Experience points. They also represent your score.
> #: Current level.
> Files Disks D, C, B, A: # files disks of each type that you
have recovered.
> L: Player level (level up by collecting XP).
> Second line:
> ====: Power bar.
> Remaining bullets for each of the four weapons.
> Under #: A check symbol appears if you have beaten
the current level.
> Apples: Stock of apples in your inventory.
> Health potions: Stock of health potions in your inventory.
> Power potions: Stock of power potions in your inventory.
> Door keys: Stock of door keys in your inventory.
> A green hat indicates that the magic mode is on.
You can select a target when you level up to level 2.
> Batteries:
> They represent radioactive waste due to cheap nuclear
industrialization an weaponry.
Radioactive batteries are the main thing that connects this game
to the original Pac's Revenge game.
> Potions:
> Recovery potion: health.
> Recovery potion: power.
> Cartridges:
> They contain bullets. There is one cartridge type for each
kind of bullet.
> Magic:
> To be able to use it, you need a skill that will be activated
when you level up to level 2.
> You can activate a magic selector to use magic on an NPC.
> Magic spells:
1. Vortex of Doom B: A Vortex of Doom that targets the
selected NPC.
2. Vortex of Doom A: A more powerful Vortex of Doom spell.
3. Lightning Bolt A: A lightning bolt that targets
the selected NPC.
4. Doom Bolt B: A doom bolt that targets the selected NPC.
5. Doom Bolt A: A more powerful Doom Bolt spell.
> There are limits of spells casted than depend
on the type of spell:
> You can have only N active spells of one kind on a target.
> You can have only N active spells of one base kind on a level.
> Apples:
> Eat them to recover a bit of health.
There are three types of apples:
> Green apples:
They are less than normal quality apples but still tasty.
> Yellow apples:
They are normal quality apples.
> Red apples:
They are high-quality apples.
> Weapons and bullets:
> There are four kinds of weapons that you can use.
Each one of these weapons has a different range, power,
and power use:
> A light weapon: Laser 1.
> Great range but very low power.
> It consumes just a bit of your power attribute.
> Very easy to find.
> A medium weapon: Laser 2.
> Good range but low power.
> It consumes a little of your power attribute.
> Easy to find.
> A strong weapon: Photonic.
> Low range but good power.
> It consumes a good deal of your power attribute.
> Difficult to find.
> A heavy weapon: Neutronic.
> Pretty good range and very high power.
> It consumes a lot of your power attribute.
> Very difficult to find.
> Energy shields:
> Right now there is only one kind of them.
> A neutronic energy shield of type A:
> To be able to use it, you need a skill that will be
activated when you level up to level 2.
> It blocks all the bullets headed in its direction.
> Snakes change their direction when they hit one.
> It consumes a little bit of your power while it is on.
> When destroyed, it costs you some power.
Then, it is created again.
> Its color changes from light blue to yellow and dark pink
depending on its health stat.
> Files disks:
> There are four types of files disks:
> Type D: They contain low interesting data.
> Type C: They contain medium interesting data.
> Type B: They contain good interesting data.
> Type A: They contain high interesting data.
> In later versions of the game:
> You will use them on the computers.
> Computers:
> Right now, they are just decoration.
In later versions, they will have an important role in
beating the game.
> Mines:
> There are two types of mines:
> Aqua mines: They deal a good deal of damage.
> Lilac mines: They deal great damage
> Clocks:
> Currently, clock timers do not have a real effect in the game.
In the future, they will trigger some cool stuff.
> NPCs droping items:
> Items dropped by an NPC may appear in a position where
the player cannot reach.
This can especially happen with snakes and dragons.
> This is not a bug, it's a feature.
Yeah, really. It is a design decision. ; p
> NPCs (bestiary, monsters, and others):
> Bats:
> They bite your head/neck whenever you are too close to them.
> There are four types of bats:
> Blue bats: They deal basic damage.
> Lilac bats: They deal medium damage
> Red bats: They deal a good deal of damage.
> Black bats: They deal great damage.
> Demons:
> Beware, they have weapons, can cast spells
and have great resistance to magic.
> Dragons:
> Beware, they have magic weapons
and good or great resistance to magic.
> You can hit only their head. So do not waste bullets
on their body.
> Beware, the dragons land is very dangerous.
> Ghosts:
> Cannot be killed/hit with normal weapons.
Only Dark magic spells can damage them, i.e,
Vortex of Doom and Doom Bolts.
> Mages:
> Beware, they have magic weapons
and good resistance to magic.
> Pokoyos.
> Pumpkin zombies:
> Beware, they have magic weapons
and have some small resistance to magic.
> Pumpkin heads (zombies):
> Beware, they have magic weapons
and have some small resistance to magic.
> Robots:
> Beware, they have weapons.
> Samurais:
> Beware, they have weapons, magic weapons
and have some small resistance to magic.
> Skulls.
> Snakes:
> They bite you whenever you are too close to them.
> Their body also gives you damage but much less
than their head.
> You can hit only their head. So do not waste bullets
on their body.
> Terminator Eyes:
> Beware, they have weapons.
> Tethloriens:
> Beware, they have weapons, magic weapons
and have some small resistance to magic.
> Vampires
> Wolf-men.
F1: Show a help screen while playing the game
left, a: move to the left
right, d: move to the right
up, w: jump
u 4: fire a light shot
i 5: fire a medium shot
j 1: fire a strong shot
k 2: fire a heavy shot
t: try unlocking door using each key in your inventory
h: Switch energy shield (if you have level up enough)
m: switch magic and magic NPC selector (via mouse clicks)
1-5: choose between numbered magic attack spells.
You have to acquire them
ex: Vortex of Doom A, Lightning bolt A...
0: no current spell selected
L_mouse_button: cast current spell
(if magic is on and the PC has enough level)
insert: drink a health potion
delete: drink a power potion
home: eat a health apple
b: hold b for a time to kill your current life
p: pause
ESC: exit game
^m: pause/resume music
^s: sound effects on/off
Alt + Enter: change full screen / windowed screen mode
L_Ctrl + R_Alt + g: grid on/off
^h: shows this help to the console
> Additional keys for debug mode:
^ L_Alt + numpad_divide: toggle logger to debug/info, print info
for hits...
^ n: print a list of all NPCs in the current level
^ + Shift + n: print a list of all NPCs in all levels,
ordered by level
^ + Alt + Shift + n:
print a list of all NPCs in all levels,
ordered by NPC name
Alt + n: print a list of all items in the current level
Alt + Shift + n: print a list of all items in all levels,
ordered by level
^ + Alt + n: print a list of all items in all levels,
ordered by item name
^d: print debug information to the console
^l: write debug information to a log file
> Additional keys for cheating mode:
^i: teletransportation: put the player above it\'s
current position (cheat)
^ numpad_minus: great advantage superhero (cheat)
^ numpad_multiply: out of phase superhero invulnerability flag (cheat)
codemaster [-h] [-f] [-l] [-m] [-n] [-u] [-d] [-t]
optional arguments:
-h, --help, show this help message and exit
-f, --fullscreen
Full screen display activated when starting the game
-l, --multiplelogfiles
A log file by app execution, instead of one unique log file
-m, --stdoutlog
Print logs to the console along with writing them to the
log file
-n, --nologdatetime
Logs will not print a datetime.
-u, --nodisplayscaled
Deactivate the scaling of the game screen.
Resolution depends on desktop size and scale graphics.
Note that Pygame scaled is considered an experimental API
and is subject to change.
In most systems, it is better to have the scaling activated
when using the full screen display mode.
-d, --debug
debug actions, information and traces
This does not set the log level to debug.
Use the key shortcut ^ L_Alt + numpad_divide
to toggle log levels.
-t, --debugtraces
show debug back traces information when something goes wrong
Default optional arguments
fullscreen False
multiplelogfiles False
stdoutlog False
nologdatetime False
nodisplayscaled False
debug False
debugtraces False
Test suite
To run the test suite:
$ python -m suiteoftests
You can run the test suite executing only some tests. Examples:
* Execute only one test:
$ python -m suiteoftests -n test_bat_hit_with_enough_bullets_must_die
* Execute only two tests (example using bash):
$ python -m suiteoftests -n 'test_bat_hit_with_enough_bullets_must_die, test_player_enters_door_to_next_level'
To run the test suite in full screen mode:
$ python -m suiteoftests -f
To run the test suite with log debug messages:
$ python -m suiteoftests -d
Notes:
* Press ESC if you want to abort the current test.
* If you tell the test suite to run some specific tests, <br>
the test suite will run them even if you have decorated, <br>
these tests to be skipped.
Examples of usage
Run the game:
$ python -m codemaster
Run the game starting in full screen mode:
$ python -m codemaster -f
To make The CodeMaster work
Do this:
1. Clone this repository in your local system.
2. Go to its folder in your system.
3. $ pip install -r requirements.txt
4. $ python -m codemaster