Echoes Of The Exclusion is a text-based survival adventure game written using Python. The game allows players to explore a mysterious exclusion zone, hunting for clues, evading radiation, and making key decisions. The challenging interactive game provides feedback to the player based on their decisions and has high replay value as there are multiple ways to win and lose.
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Echoes Of The Exclusion is an interactive text-based adventure game. You can read more about the general theme on Wikipedia. This game is based on surviving the Exclusion zone, based on Chernobyl. The player enters their name, and they can then choose which direction to travel by inputting N, E, S, or W (North, East, South, West). This takes the player to a new area which they can explore. They are given either multiple options that can be selected by inputting 1, 2, or 3, or head back to the previous location by entering the character displayed. There are also Yes/No options which are decided by entering either Y or N.
There are different ways to win and lose, depending on the player's memory, luck, and skills.
- Game introduction screen
- Introduces the scope of the game to the player.
- Gives the player a tip about radiation points and prompts them if they would like to play.
- Input validation: If the player enters a non-valid character, they are shown an error message and asked to input again.
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- Name input
- The player is asked for their name, which is capitalized upon entering.
- Their name is stored as an instance variable so if they choose to play again, they do not have to re-enter their name.
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- Direction choices
- The player can choose which way they would like to travel.
- When arriving at a destination, they are greeted with a description of the area and multiple options they can pursue. Or they can head back and revisit previously visited locations.
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- Winning the game
- There are two ways to win the game. They can find a secret hidden meaning or find a weapon and defeat a monster.
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- Radiation points
- The player starts with 0 radiation points, but based on their decisions, this can increase. Once it reaches 3, the player receives a message that they died from radiation exposure.
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- Healing
- The player can also reduce their radiation points through certain in-game actions.
- To prevent exploitation of this mechanic, areas where the player's radiation points are reduced can only be visited once.
- If the player's radiation points were already at 0, then a message is displayed informing them of this, and the radiation points are not set to a negative integer.
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- Other ways to lose the game
- The player can run into different scenarios where they die.
- The player has to remember these dangerous zones for next time, which increases replay value.
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- The player has to find clues and solve a puzzle to unlock the game's secrets.
- For example, an anagram must be solved to unlock a safe so the player gains access to a weapon.
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- Count how many times the player had to restart the game to win.
- Count how many inputs (decisions and directions) it took for the player to successfully complete the game and display high scores.
- Implement a health feature, more weapons, and a combat system.
- Have more items that can be stored in the player's inventory, which can be checked by entering a specific word.
- Properly integrate classes for different instances of the game.
I decided to use a text-based data model. The mechanics, interactions, and story progression are implemented using text-based input and output.
The game uses Python's enum module to define enumerations for directions (Direction) and decisions (Decisions). This provides a way to represent and handle different choices available to the player during the game.
The game also maintains attributes for the player, such as radiation_level, weapon, and visited_sublocations. These attributes store the player's progress, choices made, and game state.
The game uses methods and conditional statements to control the flow of the game. The game state evolves based on the player's decisions and actions.
The game defines various locations and sublocations, and the player can navigate through these areas based on their choices. The game uses text-based print statements to provide descriptions, dialogues, and narrations to convey the story and set the atmosphere.
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Input incorrect character when receiving the "Do you want to play" prompt.
- Response: Receive an error message and prompted to enter the character again.
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Input non-capitalized character for username input.
- Response: The character is capitalized.
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Input incorrect character when choosing direction.
- Response: Receive an error message and prompted to enter the direction again.
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Input correct character when choosing direction.
- Response: Taken to the correct location, and the previous terminal is cleared.
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Entering the library 3 times to test radiation.
- Response: Receive a message informing that radiation level has reached a critical level, and the player has died. The player receives a prompt to play again.
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Trying to enter the operating room and building a shelter twice.
- Response: The player receives a message stating they have already explored this option.
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At the power plant, choosing to investigate the shadows.
- Response: When the player does not have a weapon, the death message is shown, and the player is prompted to play again. If they have a weapon, the win message is shown, and the player is prompted to play again.
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In the City, choosing to enter the minefield.
- Response: When the player chooses to enter the minefield, they receive the death message, and they are prompted to play again. If they choose no, a message is printed, and they are prompted to head back to the city.
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Entering the library twice and then visiting the operating room to search the corpse and heading back to the library.
- Response: The player does not die, demonstrating that the reduce radiation mechanic works.
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Issue: The use of self.player_name in the start_zone() method.
Explanation:
The method attempted to access self.player_name before it was set, resulting in an AttributeError. The correct variable name is self.player_name_input. -
Issue: Missing cases in the start_zone_return() method.
Explanation:
The statement inside start_zone_return() did not have cases for each direction (N, E, S, W). It caused the game to break when the player attempted to go in a direction not listed in the switch statement. -
Issue: Incorrect method call in field()
Explanation:
The incorrect method call to self.forest() in the field() method was removed, allowing the player to continue the game after reading the survivor's log. -
Issue: Game continuation after death()
Explanation:
When the player died and was asked to play, if they chose 'N' (No), the game continued. A new method play_again_prompt was implemented to call sys.exit() if the player entered 'N'. -
Issue: get_user_input was case-insensitive
Explanation:
The get_user_input method was modified to convert the valid options to uppercase to ensure case-insensitive comparison with the user's input. This prevents issues where the user might enter lowercase characters for valid options. -
Issue: When replaying the game, visiting the library caused duplication of print statements.
Explanation:
The play_again_prompt() method was being called multiple times when the player chooses to play again. Modification of the play_again_prompt() method to include a loop solved the issue.
There are no remaining bugs.
- PEP8
- Error-free code checked on CI Python Linter.
- *Errors for character length, but this is not applicable due to indentation and use of \n (new line).
This project was deployed using Code Institute's mock terminal for Heroku:
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Steps for local deployment:
- Clone the Echoes-Of-The-Exclusion GitHub repository.
- Ensure Python is installed and updated to version 3.11.1.
- Install Colorama (pip install colorama) and update to the latest version.
- Enter python3 run.py into the terminal to start the game.
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Steps for deployment to Heroku:
- pip3 freeze > requirements.txt to pass colorama to Heroku.
- Create a new Heroku app.
- Set Config vars key to "PORT" and value to "8000".
- Set buildpacks to Python and NodeJS in that order.
- Link the Heroku app to my GitHub repository.
- Click on deploy.
For the inspiration and base of my code, I followed this tutorial and this video on YouTube.
- I used Match case statements to improve my code's readability.
- I used System Exit to properly exit the game when the player does not want to play again.
- I implemented the Clear Screen to make my print statements more readable and to improve the user experience.
- I used enumerations which I researched using geeksforgeeks.com.
- I used Colorama to add color to different text statements in my game.
- I used this ASCII Art generator to make the title text for my game.
- I used Am I Responsive to create my README cover image.
- I used Black Python for formatting my code.
I would like to thank my mentor Jack Wachira for his valuable help and feedback throughout this project, as well as Code Institute for the deployment terminal.