Scorching Sprint

Scorching Sprint is a web application/game which is inspired by the classic Chrome Dino game, but has a lot more features. Users have to create an account and sign in to play the game. Their gameplay data is stored and the highest score is used to rank the players in a global leaderboard.

This project was done by Swagatam Pati for the 2024 Harvard CS50x online course: Introduction to the Intellectual Enterprises of Computer Science & the Art of Programming.

Video Demonstration: https://youtu.be/7ydAh8Amdgw

Technological Design Choices

Here is a list of the various technologies I used in this project:

Flask

The backend of the application is implemented using Flask. Python Flask is a lightweight and powerful web framework. It stands out for its simplicity, flexibility, and fine-grained control over its components, making it an ideal choice for my project.

Jinja

Jinja is the templating engine that I used for my project. Jinja is a fast, expressive, extensible templating engine. Special placeholders in the template allow writing code similar to Python syntax. Then the template is passed data to render the final document.

SQLite & SQLAlchemy

SQLite is a C-language library that implements a small, fast, self-contained, high-reliability, full-featured, SQL database engine. The ORM used is CS50's implementation of SQLAlchemy which made it possible to work with Python's own objects instead of writing separate SQL queries.

Bootstrap

Bootstrap is a CSS framework directed at responsive front-end web development. It contains HTML, CSS and JavaScript-based design templates for typography, forms, buttons, navigation, and other interface components.

Filesystem Explanation

Below is a list of all the folders and files that the project contains:

• app.py - The main file where the Flask routes are created, also containing route handlers for API endpoints.
• arc.db - The database storing the users' data.
• /templates - Contains HTML webpages of the application.
  • apology.html - Error page on form submission while logging in or registering for a new user.
  • fame.html - Global Leaderboard showing the top 10 players ranked according to their highest scores.
  • game.html - The primary page that contains the actual Scorching Sprint game.
  • index.html - Homepage of the application.
  • layout.html - Boilerplate used for the other webpages.
  • login.html - Displays login form.
  • register.html - Displays new user registration form.
  • stats.html - Shows the player title, highest score and five recent game scores of the current user.
• /static - Contains graphics and music used in the game. Also contains the stylesheets (.css) and script files (.js) powering the application.
  • /graphics - Contains the game artwork files.
    • cloud{1..4}.png
    • dinoOnFire.gif
    • dragon.gif
    • gameBG.jpg
    • ground.png
    • homeBG.jpeg
    • horizontalFire.gif
    • runningDino.gif
    • standingDino.gif
    • verticalFire.gif
  • /sounds - Contains game music files.
    • chase.mp3
    • dragonCastle.mp3
  • /stylesheets - Contains CSS stylesheets.
    • apologyStyles.css - Stylesheet for apology.html page.
    • fameStyles.css - Stylesheet for fame.html page.
    • formStyles.css - Stylesheet for login.html and register.html pages.
    • gameStyles.css - Stylesheet for game.html page.
    • indexStyles.css - Stylesheet for index.html page.
    • statsStyles.css - Stylesheet for stats.html page.
  • /scripts - Contains frontend JS scripts.
    • coloringScript.js - Script to get colored usernames on all pages. Used in layout.html page.
    • formValidationScript.js - Script (from Bootstrap) for frontend validation of forms. Used in login.html and register.html pages.
    • gameScript.js - Primary script powering the actual game. Used in game.html page.

Artwork & Music Credits

/static/graphics/runningDino.gif

Dino-4-Run | https://dribbble.com/shots/4146682-Dino-4-Run
Artwork by Gustavo Zanzero | https://dribbble.com/zgus

/static/graphics/dragon.gif

First animation: dragon flight | https://www.deviantart.com/allmannerofbeasties/art/First-animation-dragon-flight-521575008
Artwork by AllMannerOfBeasties | https://www.deviantart.com/allmannerofbeasties

/static/graphics/gameBG.jpg and /static/graphics/homeBG.jpeg

From Firewatch | https://www.firewatchgame.com

/static/sounds/chase.mp3

Chase by Alexander Nakarada | https://creatorchords.com
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

/static/sounds/dragonCastle.mp3

Dragon Castle by Makai Symphony | https://soundcloud.com/makai-symphony
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all
Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0