When Python is too Slow for my Steam Game

Summary

The script discusses the use of Python for developing 2D video games, highlighting its beginner-friendly syntax and ability to handle complex logic efficiently. However, it also addresses Python's performance limitations, particularly when dealing with cellular automata in the upcoming game 'Yanuk'. The developer explores potential solutions, including optimization, using C extensions, or leveraging GPU power with tools like Numba. The summary concludes with the decision to implement the Smooth Life algorithm as a shader in OpenGL, which is a performance-optimized approach for handling complex patterns in game development.

Takeaways

• 🐍 Python is praised for its beginner-friendly syntax and ability to express complex logic concisely, which is beneficial for rapid game development.
• 🚀 The speaker's game, 'Yanuk', is a top-down shooter featuring cellular automata as enemies, which originated from a Blackthorn Prod competition.
• 🔬 Cellular automata in 'Yanuk' are based on algorithms that create lifelike behavior using simple rules to determine a cell's state based on its neighbors.
• 🎮 The game started with Conway's Game of Life, a simple and popular algorithm for creating enemy patterns, which performs well in Python.
• ⏱️ Python's performance limitations became evident when developing 'Yanuk', particularly with more complex cellular automata requiring extensive neighbor checks.
• 🛠️ The developer considered optimizing Python code, using C modules for performance, or leveraging GPU computation with tools like Numba.
• 🎨 The solution chosen was to implement the cellular automata algorithms as shaders in OpenGL, which is supported on almost any hardware and resolves performance issues.
• 🌟 Shaders are highlighted as a versatile solution for performance bottlenecks in 2D game development, applicable to various effects and simulations.
• 🛑 'Yanuk' will feature different automata algorithms in various areas, with Conway's Game of Life being the first, and Smooth Life being planned for future areas.
• 🏗️ The game development includes significant additions such as terrain, shadows, level editing, water, a shopping area, character pathfinding, physics, and new weapons.
• 📅 The developer is cleaning up the codebase and preparing for a November 2024 release, marking the first Steam game in five years, with a demo and teaser trailer expected in the coming months.

Q & A

Why is Python considered beginner-friendly for developing video games?

Python's syntax is simple and easy to understand, which makes it accessible for beginners. It also allows complex logic to be expressed concisely, facilitating speedy development in experienced hands.

What is the main downside of using Python for game development mentioned in the script?

The main downside is Python's performance limitations, which can become evident in certain scenarios, especially when dealing with complex algorithms or large datasets.

What type of game is 'Yanuk' and what is its unique feature?

'Yanuk' is a top-down shooter game with a unique feature of fighting cellular automata instead of typical enemies. These automata create lifelike behavior using simple rule sets.

What is the basis of the cellular automata used in 'Yanuk'?

The cellular automata in 'Yanuk' started with Conway's Game of Life, a simple and popular algorithm that can create interesting enemy patterns.

Why might Python's performance limitations become a problem in 'Yanuk'?

Python's limitations can become a problem when implementing more complex cellular automata that need to make decisions based on hundreds of neighbors in a world with over 10,000 cells, without causing a stutter in the game's frame rate.

What are some options a Python game developer might consider to overcome performance limitations?

Options include optimizing code in vanilla Python, using existing modules written in C for improved performance, writing C code to use with Python, using compiled Python code, or running the algorithm on the GPU with tools that support parallel execution.

Why is 'Smooth Life' a suitable enemy automata for 'Yanok'?

'Smooth Life' is a cellular automata that can be used in 'Yanok' because it is highly parallelizable, allowing each cell to be computed separately based on a single world texture input.

How can shaders help in overcoming the performance limitations in 2D game development with Python?

Shaders can be used to offload computation to the GPU, which is broadly supported on almost any hardware. They can handle complex calculations like watercolor effects, water surface simulation, and physically based lighting, which might be too slow when interpreted by Python alone.

What is the significance of using shaders in the development of 'Yanuk'?

Shaders allow for the implementation of complex algorithms like 'Smooth Life' and 'Conway's Game of Life' to run efficiently on the GPU, which is crucial for maintaining high frame rates in the game.

What are some of the recent developments and additions made to 'Yanuk'?

Recent developments in 'Yanuk' include terrain shadows, proper level editing, water features, a shopping area, character pathfinding and physics, secondary weapons at a gun shop, and a new gun for defensive purposes.

What are the upcoming tasks and features for 'Yanuk'?

The upcoming tasks focus on new content such as areas, automata upgrades, and typical quality of life game features like menus and settings. There is also anticipation for a demo and a teaser trailer in the coming months.

Outlines

00:00

🐍 Python's Pros and Cons for Game Development

The speaker discusses the advantages and limitations of using Python for developing video games, particularly for 2D games. They highlight Python's beginner-friendly syntax and its ability to handle complex logic with concise code, which can lead to rapid development. However, they also acknowledge Python's performance issues. The speaker shares their experience with Python's limitations while developing their upcoming Steam game, 'Yanuk,' a top-down shooter featuring cellular automata as enemies. They explain how cellular automata, which can create lifelike behavior with simple rules, can be computationally intensive, especially when considering thousands of cells and their interactions. The speaker outlines potential solutions to overcome Python's performance limitations, such as optimizing code, using C modules, or leveraging GPU computation with tools like Numba.

05:01

🛠️ Overcoming Python's Limitations with Shaders

The speaker elaborates on their decision to use shaders to address Python's performance issues in their game 'Yanuk.' They explain that cellular automata are highly parallelizable problems, making them suitable for GPU computation. The speaker shares their strategy of implementing the Smooth Life algorithm as a fragment shader in OpenGL, which is compatible with Python, to achieve efficient computation. They also mention the benefits of using shaders for various niche cases in 2D game development, such as watercolor effects, water surface simulations, and physically based lighting. The speaker concludes by discussing the progress made in developing 'Yanuk,' including the addition of new features like terrain shadows, level editing, water, a shopping area, character pathfinding, and new weapons, as they prepare for the game's release in November 2024.

🎉 Anticipating the Launch of 'Yanuk' on Steam

In the final paragraph, the speaker expresses excitement about the upcoming release of 'Yanuk' on Steam, marking their first game launch in five years. They mention plans for a demo and a teaser trailer to be released in the coming months and invite viewers to add the game to their Steam wish list. The speaker also hints at focusing on new content and Quality of Life improvements for the game, such as menus and settings, as they approach the release date.

Keywords

💡Python

Python is a high-level, interpreted programming language known for its readability and ease of use, making it ideal for beginners and experts alike. In the context of the video, Python is praised for its beginner-friendly syntax and ability to handle complex logic efficiently, which is essential for game development. The script mentions Python's use in developing video games, particularly 2D games, and its limitations in performance.

💡Game Development

Game development refers to the process of creating a video game. It involves various stages, including design, programming, art, sound, and testing. The video discusses the use of Python in game development, highlighting its advantages for rapid development and the challenges faced due to its performance limitations, especially in the context of complex algorithms like cellular automata.

💡Cellular Automata

Cellular automata are discrete models studied in computer science, mathematics, physics, complexity science, theoretical biology, and microstructure modeling. They consist of a regular grid of cells, each in one of a finite number of states, such as on and off. The video describes how the game 'Yanuk' uses cellular automata as enemies, with behaviors determined by simple rules, and how Python's performance can be a limiting factor when dealing with complex automata.

💡Conway's Game of Life

Conway's Game of Life is a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970. It is a zero-player game, where the evolution of the game is determined by its initial state, requiring no further input. The video mentions it as the starting point for the game 'Yanuk', where it serves as an example of a simple cellular automaton that performs well in Python.

💡Performance Limitations

Performance limitations refer to the constraints in a system's ability to perform tasks, often due to hardware or software inefficiencies. The script discusses Python's performance limitations when dealing with complex cellular automata in game development, where the need to process thousands of cells can cause a drop in frame rate.

💡Optimization

Optimization in programming is the process of modifying a piece of code, or choosing among several algorithms, to perform more efficiently. The video suggests optimizing Python code as a solution to overcome performance issues, either by writing more efficient code or by using modules that leverage C for improved performance.

💡Shader

In computer graphics, a shader is a program that has been written in a specific language to run on a graphics processing unit (GPU) to generate visual effects. The video discusses using shaders to solve performance issues by offloading the computation of cellular automata to the GPU, allowing for more efficient processing.

💡OpenGL

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform API for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The video mentions using OpenGL in conjunction with Python to implement shaders, which can help overcome Python's performance limitations in certain graphics-intensive tasks.

💡GLSL

GLSL (OpenGL Shading Language) is the shading language for OpenGL and is used to write shaders that can be executed on a GPU. The script describes the process of converting the Smooth Life algorithm into a GLSL fragment shader to run efficiently in Python.

💡Yanuk

Yanuk is the name of the game being discussed in the video, a top-down shooter that features cellular automata as enemies. The game originated in a Blackthorn Prod competition and is being developed with Python, showcasing the use of Python in game development and the challenges faced with its performance limitations.

💡Game Mechanics

Game mechanics refer to the rules and systems that govern how a game works. The video mentions that the upcoming tasks for 'Yanuk' will focus on new content and mechanics, such as areas, automata upgrades, and quality of life features, indicating the ongoing development and expansion of the game.

Highlights

Python's beginner-friendly syntax and ability to express complex logic make it great for developing video games.

Python's performance limitations can be a downside, especially for certain types of games.

2D games can generally be developed in Python without performance concerns if data is well-organized.

The game 'Yanuk' features cellular automata as enemies, which can pose performance challenges in Python.

Cellular automata algorithms create lifelike behavior using simple rule sets.

Yanuk started with Conway's Game of Life, a simple yet popular algorithm for enemy patterns.

Conway's Game of Life performs well in Python due to its simplicity.

Some cellular automata require processing hundreds of neighbors, which can strain Python's capabilities.

Optimizing Python code or using C modules can help overcome performance issues.

Using C with Python or compiled Python code can significantly improve performance.

GPU-based solutions can be used to address Python's performance limitations.

Cellular automata problems are highly parallelizable, making them suitable for GPU processing.

Shaders can resolve many performance issues in 2D game development with Python.

The Smooth Life algorithm can be implemented in a GLSL fragment shader for performance gains.

Yanuk will feature different automata algorithms in various areas of the game.

Conway's Game of Life has been successfully ported from Python to a shader.

Yanuk has undergone significant development, including terrain, shadows, level editing, and more.

The game will feature a proper shopping area, new weapons, and defensive capabilities.

The developer has cleaned up the codebase in preparation for further game expansion.

Yanuk is set for release in November 2024, marking the developer's first Steam game in 5 years.

The developer is focusing on new content and quality of life features for the upcoming release.

Transcripts

python can be great for developing video

games since python syntax is beginner

friendly while also allowing for complex

logic to be expressed in a small amount

of code this can result in very Speedy

development in experienced hands however

Python's well-known downside is its

performance I've always said that python

can be used for nearly any 2D game

without much worry as long as you know

how to organize data that said there are

some edge cases and since I'm someone

who designs a game first worries about

implementation later I appear to have

had a runin with Python's performance

limitations in my upcoming steam game if

you haven't seen my game yanuk before

it's a top- down shooter that originated

in a black th prod competition where you

fight cellular automata instead of

typical enemies which listed on Steam

cellular automata are algorithms that

can create lifelike Behavior using

simple rule sets to determine the state

of a cell based on its neighbors yanuk

started with Conway's Game of Life which

is an extremely simple and popular

algorithm that can create some

interesting enemy patterns it performs

just fine in Python since each cell just

looks at its immediate neighbors however

some of the more interesting cellular

automata need to make decisions based on

hundreds of neighbors running that in a

world with over 10,000 cells where each

cell needs to look at hundreds of other

cells without causing a stutter in your

game's frame rate is one of those cases

where Python's limitations can start

popping out to set the bar I plan on

using Smooth Life as one of the enemy

automata in yanok now as a seasoned

python game developer I know I have a

few options available to me first I

could attempt to optimize my code in

vanilla python by either writing some

big brain code or by using existing

modules that are written in C under the

hood for improved performance in this

case there may be a route with scipi

using convolutions to gather neighboring

cell information however this kind of

solution could end up taking a decent

amount of effort while still only being

applicable to one cellular automa

algorithm option number two is to either

write some C to use with python or use

compiled python code for increased

performance which could be done with

things like piie or number now option

number three is to solve the problem by

running the algorithm on the GPU of

course python doesn't run on the GPU

natively but there are some tools like n

that can allow you to write python

functions that run in parallel on the

GPU these are all potential options to

consider if you run into performance

limitations yourself but I only need one

solution for yanok cellular automata is

typically a highly parallelizable

problem since usually each cell will

drive its next state based purely on the

old state of the world rather than being

intricately connected to neighboring

cells each cell can be computed

separately based on a single World

texture input into the automata this

applies to Conway's Game of Life Smooth

Life and even lenia well wait a minute

we take in a texture and change the

state of each pixel based on a single

input texture and some constants that's

a Shader the nice thing about solving

this problem with a Shader in opengl

which you can use with python is that it

is broadly supported on almost any

hardware interestingly enough nearly all

of the niche cases where interpreted

python is too slow in 2D Game Dev can be

resolved with shaders want to paint the

world with watercolor effects shaders

one to simulate water surfaces shaders

one to have physically R casted lighting

also

shaders I already use shaders all the

time in my games nowadays I have a video

on that if you want to learn so all I

really have to do is yon the Smooth Life

algorithm drop it in a glsl fragment

Shader and poof I have Smooth Life

running in Python I've also gone ahead

and ported the old conways Game of Life

algorithm from python into a Shader each

area yanuk will run a different autom

algorithm and Conway's Game of Life is

the algorithm for the first area there

is still one more step in making the

Smooth Life automa compatible for yanok

for future areas downscaling if you want

to see how that works you'll have to

wait for the next yanok devlog in the

meantime I've made significant strides

towards turning yanuk into a proper game

I've added terrain Shadows proper level

editing for me at least water a proper

shopping area to expand the world with

Gary the armadilla blacksmith centipede

pathfinding and physics secondary

weapons at gun shop and a new gun that

can create walls for defensive purposes

I had a massive questionable code that

was originally written as quick as

possible for the Blackthorn prod

competition that needed to be cleaned up

to extend the

game with that cleaned up I am now ready

to make even bigger additions as the

newly announced release month approaches

November 2024 if Yano seems interesting

I would greatly appreciate wish list on

Steam the upcoming tasks Focus primarily

on new content rather than mechanics

such as areas automata upgrades Etc and

typical Quality of Life game features

such as menus settings and the like this

will be my first steam game in 5 years

I'm getting pretty excited there will

probably be a demo and a teaser trailer

in a couple of months thanks for

watching

[Music]