Interactive Python：Mini-project # 7 - Spaceship

An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python 

Mini-project description - Spaceship

In our last two mini-projects, we will build a 2D space game RiceRocks that is inspired by the classic arcade game Asteroids (1979). Asteroids is a relatively simple game by today's standards, but was still immensely popular during its time. (Joe spent countless quarters playing it.) In the game, the player controls a spaceship via four buttons: two buttons that rotate the spaceship clockwise or counterclockwise (independent of its current velocity), a thrust button that accelerates the ship in its forward direction and a fire button that shoots missiles. Large asteroids spawn randomly on the screen with random velocities. The player's goal is to destroy these asteroids before they strike the player's ship. In the arcade version, a large rock hit by a missile split into several fast moving small asteroids that themselves must be destroyed. Occasionally, a flying saucer also crosses the screen and attempts to destroy the player's spaceship. Searching for "asteroids arcade" yields links to multiple versions of Asteroids that are available on the web (including an updated version by Atari, the original creator of Asteroids).

Mini-project development process

For this mini-project, you will implement a working spaceship plus add a single asteroid and a single missile. We have provided art for your game so its look and feel is that of a more modern game. You should begin by loading the  program template .The program template includes all necessary image and audio files. Unfortunately, no audio format is supported by all major browsers so we have decided to provided sounds in the  mp3  format which is supported by Chrome (but not by Firefox on some systems). ( ogg  versions are also available.)  We highly recommend using Chrome for the last two weeks of the class.  We have found that Chrome typically has better performance on games with more substantial drawing requirements and standardization on a common browser will make peer assessing projects more reliable.

Phase one - Spaceship

In this phase, you will implement the control scheme for the spaceship.This includes a complete Spaceship class and the appropriate keyboard handlers to control the spaceship. Your spaceship should behave as follows:

• The left and right arrows should control the orientation of your spaceship. While the left arrow is held down, your spaceship should turn counter-clockwise. While the right arrow is down, your spaceship should turn clockwise. When neither key is down, your ship should maintain its orientation. You will need to pick some reasonable angular velocity at which your ship should turn.
• The up arrow should control the thrusters of your spaceship. The thrusters should be on when the up arrow is down and off when it is up. When the thrusters are on, you should draw the ship with thrust flames. When the thrusters are off, you should draw the ship without thrust flames.
• When thrusting, the ship should accelerate in the direction of its forward vector. This vector can be computed from the orientation/angle of the ship using the provided helper function angle_to_vector. You will need to experiment with scaling each component of this acceleration vector to generate a reasonable acceleration.
• Remember that while the ship accelerates in its forward direction, but the ship always moves in the direction of its velocity vector. Being able to accelerate in a direction different than the direction that you are moving is a hallmark of Asteroids.
• Your ship should always experience some amount of friction. (Yeah, w