Past Projects

GPN hasn't been around long, but on top of numerous smaller programming puzzles the girls have worked on some pretty funky projects.

MUDs: The term MUD stands for Multi-User Dungeon. There are text-based adventure games where you can move from room to room, pick up items and fight dragons. How this works, any characters, story, locations are up to you and we've been amazed at the MUDs produced.

Pygame: Have you played those (often slightly stupid) crazy flash games with cheesy graphics and simple rules? One of the oldest is whack-a-mole where the goal is to hit moles as they pop out of the ground. We made our own versions of this game, including whack-a-mozzie. From this simple base, and the pygame library, there's a lot of scope for creativity.

Current Projects

For term 1 2009 we're working on chatbots! Do you use GTalk, AIM, IRC or Windows Live Messenger? Instant messaging has become widely used for keeping in touch with friends and just hanging out. This term at GPN we'll be building programs which can chat to you. We start from simple bots which act like small children and ask too many questions, and progress to more complex bots which learn how to talk from everything you say to it.

Future Projects

Here are just a few ideas that we're throwing around for future terms at GPN. If you have an idea which you think would be fun, then let us know!

• The Python Image Libary (pil): Scaling, sharpening, transforming images, even setting up face detection using PyCV!
• Writing our own web-based instant messenger with javascript and python-cgi.
• Using python-cgi to create a message board or forum.
• Learning how to use Google's AppEngine to create your own online applications!
• More fun and games with pygame (or pyglet)!
• Creating Artificial Intelligences (AI's) for computer characters in an RPG (Role Playing Game).