Childsplay date 10/09/2002
README.develop

THIS IS OBSOLETE, YOU BETTER CHECK THE SITE


What is it?
Childsplay is a suite of educational games for young children.
It's written in Python and uses the SDL libraries  wrapper pygame.
It consist of a controller module and separate game modules which are imported
in the controller. In the near future this will be a plug-in system.

Implementation:
(you better look at the source)
The module 'childsplay.py' is the controller which initializes the SDL libraries
and builds the screen and menu bar.The class 'Contr' loads a menu class and 
then the appropriate game class.
Then the controller starts a event loop which first for checks some general
events and then calls the loop method of the game class.
The event loop runs 40 times a second.

Conditions:
The game modules should provide a class named 'Game' which has the methods, 
'start', and 'loop'.
The arguments for these methods are the same for every module .
(look at the class Contr)
Only the return value from 'loop' are used by the controller to trigger some
event. The game modules must be self-supporting and not rely on other libraries 
then SDL.
Game modules:
    Don't start event loops.
    Catch every exception (if possible)
    Don't raise system exits
    Only use return values in the game loop to control the controller.

Every game should be:
    Suitable for children in the age of 3-6.
    Not only educational but also fun to play.
    Explanation not only in text but also spoken.
    Everything must be placed under the GPL.
    Platform independent.
