Planet Lander

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About

Lunar Lander is a 1979 arcade space-flight simulation game by Atari in which the player must safely land a lunar module by managing thrust and fuel; it was the most popular and influential version of the concept. Planet Lander is a Python/Pygame recreation of Lunar Lander with procedurally generated lunar terrain, fullscreen and demo modes, and a built-in AI that can play the game automatically instead of a human player.

How it differs from the original

It adds an AI autopilot mode not present in the original arcade game, and, per the project's own to-do notes, does not yet replicate the original's atmospheric drag.

Getting started

Install Python 3 and pygame, then run the game's entry script to start it; the arrow keys rotate and thrust the lander, and pressing I hands control over to the built-in AI instead.

History

It was built as a student project for a mathematical-modeling course, with an accompanying French-language report describing the landing physics and the two AI algorithms used to fly the lander; its code structure and state machine are adapted from the 'Cabbages and Kings' project.