Arc Arena

Can you outlast your foes in the Arena?

Arc Arena is a "local multiplayer for a crowd" party game for Windows that supports a large number of players (1-14) on one screen. Extremely simple but competitive gameplay. Good reflexes and an ability to handle the pressure will help you show those on the couch next to you who is king of the Arena!

There are no fancy 3D graphics here, no soundtrack, no AI players, no single player campaign. Just lots of competitors sitting shoulder to shoulder, with just two buttons, one screen, and one final victor!

I'm sure you have played something like the "Snake Game" or "Tron light cycles" before. But have you ever played it against a large group of your friends, sitting next to you on the couch?

Features:

• Local multiplayer "for a crowd" (supports 1-14 players)
• Simple controls (only 2 buttons per player)
• Registration screen allows the players to use whatever keyboard, mouse, and gamepads are connected to the computer for their input
• Includes 30 different levels that remix the core gameplay

Installation

pip install git+https://github.com/SirGnip/arc_arena.git
python -m arc_arena.arc_game

Playing with a large number of players

Screen:

• With lots of players, it helps to have a larger screen. Simply install Arc Arena on a laptop and use an HDMI cable to plug it into a large-screen TV!

Input:

• Strategies for how to play with larger crowds:
  • crowd people around one keyboard (game supports multiple people using one keyboard)
    • When more than 2 or 3 players are sharing the keyboard for their input (which is completely possible and a lot of fun!), you need to be aware of the "multi-key rollover" limitations of your specific keyboard.
  • plug a second keyboard into your computer
  • plug multiple USB gamepads into a USB hub

Installation for local development

# Open a GitBash shell and then enter...

git clone https://github.com/SirGnip/arc_arena.git
cd arc_arena
py -3.7 -m venv venv
source venv/Scripts/activate
pip install -e .
python -m arc_arena.arc_game

Bundle into a self-contained, one-file executable with PyInstaller

pip install pyinstaller
pyinstaller src/arc_arena/arc_game.py --name ArcArena --add-data 'src/arc_arena/resources;resources' --onefile
# .exe generated will be located here: dist/ArcArena.exe

Revision History

• 2.1.0 (3/2023): rename to Arc Arena, add support for PyInstaller, add custom font, registration screen tweaks, add new rounds (some from Kaelan E).
• 2.0.0 (10/2020): migrated to Python 3, partially to be able to use PyInstaller.
• 1.0.0 (8/2020): migrated code to GitHub, added ability to package with setup.py, extracted shared code into gnp_pygame, no attempts at cleanup.
• pre-GitHub (2006, probably even earlier): a big, messy uber-repo-ish kinda thing with tons of random Python code, which included this game. I creatively called the game "Snake".

History

This game was inspired by my memories of playing "Achtung! Die Kurve" on a friend's Amiga back in the 90's. The experience of having 6 people crammed around one keyboard to battle it out was unforgettable!