How can I improve my basic Python game?

[Ratchet Miles]

Below I have a pastebin of my game, I want to know how I can improve it and make it more modular and whatnot.

http://pastebin.com/pqZfAavC

[PixelPips]

I'm not a python dev, but a good rule of programming is that classes aren't a bad idea. Organization in your code makes it easier to understand and be read at a later point. Don't worry as much about "minimizing" your code. The line count doesn't matter nearly as much as the quality of the code. Also, comments. You can't go wrong with commenting everything.

 

I've had several projects that I worked on, but didn't comment. When I went back to them a few months later, I barely understood my own code.

[Art Vandelay]

If you want to make it more modular, you should store game events in external scripts instead of hard-coding them into the main program This allows you to have a main engine that you don't have to modify to add new content. For example, have one main death event handler that can be executed differently depending on what the event is.

 

for a project of this size, however, I don't know how much that'd matter, but if you are considering adding a substantial amount of content to this, that would probably be a good thing to do. Try to reuse code as much as possible. 

 

Also, comment your code.

[olbaze]

Lines 186 - 230 are copypaste from 46-90.

 

Personally, I would separate the commands to a file of their own. And the story elements should be in text files that the main program reads appropriately.

 

Also, since you have stats, your earliest working prototype should demonstrate where and how they are used. Currently, your strength and attack stats are not used anywhere. And honestly, your "haskey" stat is a bit unnecessary, since you never properly use it.

 

Other than that, you really should start by having a single story path that goes from start to finish. You can add the branches later, as long as you have a diagram of them. Which you really should have already.

 

If this is a school project: Don't look at the amount of lines in your main program. Ideally, your main program will just act as a hub that accesses multiple other files.