Code the Classics: Vol 2

Take inspiration from the some of the greatest video games of the 1980s and learn how to write your own modern classics

Code the Classics Volume II not only tells the stories of some of the seminal video games of the 1980s, but shows you how to create your own games inspired by them, following examples programmed by Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton. In this book, you'll learn how to run and edit the games in this book by installing Python, Pygame Zero, and an IDE. You'll also:

• Get game design tips and tricks from the masters.
• Understand the fundamental tasks needed for every game: display images, play sound effects and receive inputs from the keyboard or a game controller.
• Learn how to code your own games with Pygame Zero, a library that helps automate those tasks.
• Explore the code listings and find out how they work.

You'll meet these vintage-inspired games, and learn from their code in between rounds of play:

• Avenger: fly across a scrolling landscape while you save humans from malevolent aliens.
• Beat Streets: fight your way through a level, and defeat a notorious crime boss.
• Eggy: collect gems and survive as long as possible before time runs out.
• Leading Edge: Race a car on a pseudo-3d race track.
• Kinetix: Break bricks with your paddle, and use powerups to avoid various menaces.

Simon Brew is the former editor and founder of Den of Geek - the popular culture news and reviews website. He is the author of three books including Movie Geek, TV Geek and The Secret Life of the Movies. Simon is also the founder of the magazine and podcast Film Stories. Allister Brimble is a music and sound designer and has created the audio for over 400 video games since the early 1990s. During his time in the industry, Allister has worked on almost every format, from the early 8- and 16-bit home computers to hand-held devices and beyond, into today’s current consoles, phones, and tablets. David Crookes began his career as a journalist in 1994 as a freelance writer for Amstrad Action. He has since written and worked for regional newspapers, The Independent, BBC Radio 5 Live, gamesTM, Wireframe, and Retro Gamer, among many others. His previous books include Cloud Computing In Easy Steps and Facebook for Beginners In Easy Steps. He also curated Videogame Nation, an exhibition celebrating the rise of gaming, which toured the UK. Andrew Gillett grew up with early computers such as the ZX Spectrum, and was writing simple programs from the age of five. Since then, he’s worked on games that have sold millions, including Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, Kinectimals, and Kinect Disneyland Adventures. After working in the games industry for 13 years, he is now a computer science/programming tutor and indie developer. Dan Malone has been involved in the UK games industry for over 30 years and has been writing stories, games, designing characters, and drawing comics for most of his life. His work includes design and graphics on games from Speedball 2 and The Chaos Engine (Amiga/Atari ST) to character model design on SSX Blur (Nintendo Wii). Sean M. Tracey calls himself a technologist, which is his way of saying he hasn’t decided what he wants to do with technology yet – other than everything. Sean has spent his career trying to avoid getting 'proper' jobs, and as such has had a hand in making a variety of fun and interesting projects, and every now and then he writes a book about those things too. Eben Upton is the CEO of Raspberry Pi Ltd. He is responsible for the overall software and hardware architecture of Raspberry Pi computers and microcontrollers. Liz Upton was an award-winning journalist before becoming one of the co-founders of Raspberry Pi along with her husband Eben. She now works as Executive Director of Communications at Raspberry Pi. Liz plays the piano, collects and restores old fountain pens, and has an uncanny knack of getting toddlers to consume vegetables. Dr. David Braben has been a software engineer for 42 years, beginning when he co-wrote the best-selling computer game Elite while still at Cambridge University in the early 1980s. He founded Frontier Developments plc in January 1994, a 750-person company based on the Science Park in Cambridge, which floated in 2013 (AIM:FDEV), and co-founded the Raspberry Pi Foundation in 2008, a charity that supports education worldwide, and sells small educational computers for as little as $5. He supports start-ups, particularly in the environmental space through his membership of Cambridge Angels. He was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2012, a Fellowship of BAFTA in 2015 (one of only 97 since the first was given to Alfred Hitchcock in 1971), honorary doctorates from Abertay University, the Open University, and York University, and an OBE in 2014. He loves games, sailing, films, and is a BAFTA film judge.