-
Title Screen
-
Main Screen
-
Dialogue
-
Puzzle
Inspiration
Since the theme of the hackathon is “Enchanted Grove”, we wanted to focus on a fantastical and mysterious tone. We were inspired by classic choose-your-own-adventure games, but we also wanted to make it more interactive so that the user didn’t feel restricted with the decisions they could make. So, we decided to implement character AIs to make the game feel more custom to user responses.
We also wanted to focus on environmental protection, so we emphasized the player’s impact on their surroundings based on the choices they make throughout the game.
What It Does
We set the player in an enchanted grove, with their main goal being to leave the area. The player can interact with characters who give them tasks that lead to unlocking the exit gate.
Which tasks the player chooses to perform and how they interact with the character AIs determine the ending of the game and the final condition of the grove before they leave.
We hope that through our game, the player learns more about the importance of working to improve their community and protecting the environment.
How We Built It
We coded the game using Python and utilized the Pygame library to make the game. For the character AIs, we used Google Gemini.
We hand-drew all character and item sprites, as well as the backgrounds.
Challenges We Ran Into
We had to deliberate as a team for a long time to plan out the game mechanics and the scope of the game. This hackathon was our first, so we had to familiarize ourselves with GitHub, VS Code, and how to work on a coding project together.
We had to be very detailed when planning out the game mechanics and scripted events, while also making sure we were all on the same page with our shared vision for the game. We had to incorporate our ideas without affecting the other parts of the game.
We also had to make the API key accessible to everyone by using a .env file.
The game requires a lot of different files in order to maintain appropriate scopes and prevent merge conflicts, so a good amount of thought went into properly dividing the code.
Accomplishments That We're Proud Of
We’re proud of our commitment to the project and everything we accomplished together. We were able to make a functional game with many of the features that we intended, while also maintaining our central message of environmental protection.
What We Learned
We learned about:
- Using GitHub
- AI prompting and training
- Working together on a coding project as a team
- Developing a game using Python and Pygame
- Collaborating effectively on a shared software project
What's Next for Escape the Enchanted Grove
We’re going to use the skills that we learned from working on this project in our future coding endeavors. We hope to utilize our experience in a professional environment and collaborate with others to further our message of environmental protection.
