🏃‍♂️ Velocity Dash

Velocity Dash is a high-octane, minimalist infinite runner built with Python and Pygame. While the mechanics are simple, the focus is on juicy Visual Effects (VFX) and smooth movement physics. Whether you're a developer looking to study Pygame VFX or a player looking for a quick challenge, this project is designed to be lightweight and easy to get running. 🚀

Quick Start

Don't worry if you've never touched Python before. Follow these steps exactly and you'll be playing in under 2 minutes.

1. Prerequisites

   • Make sure you have Python 3.10+ installed.
     • Windows: Download from https://python.org. Crucial: check the box that says "Add Python to PATH" during installation.
     • macOS / Linux: Usually pre-installed. Check with:

       python3 --version

2. Setup & Run
   Open your terminal (or CMD) and run these commands:

   Windows

   # Create and enter a virtual environment
   python -m venv venv
   venv\Scripts\activate
   
   # Install requirements
   pip install pygame
   
   # Launch the game
   python main.py

   macOS / Linux

   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate
   pip install pygame
   python3 main.py

How to Play 🎮

Action — Key

• Start Game — ENTER ⏯
• Move Left / Right — A / D ⬅️➡️
• Jump / Double Jump — W ⤴️
• Dash (Fast Move) — SPACE ⚡️
• Ground Slam — S (while in mid-air) ⤵️
• Pause / Resume — P ⏸/▶️
• Exit — ESC ❌

Goal: Keep running, land on platforms, and avoid falling off-screen. Score increases over time.

Customizing the Game 🛠

The project is modular. If you want to tweak the gameplay, you don't need to dig through hundreds of lines of code—just open settings.py:

• Physics: Adjust GRAVITY, JUMP_POWER, or PLAYER_SPEED.
• Visuals: Change THEMES (colors) or PLAYER_SHAPES.
• Performance: If the game lags, set PERFORMANCE_MODE = True in main.py to cap the VFX count.

Building a Windows Standalone (.exe) 📦

Want to send the game to a friend who doesn't have Python? You can bundle everything into a folder:

1. Install PyInstaller:

   pip install pyinstaller

2. Run the helper script:

   • Double-click runner.bat or run it from CMD:

     runner.bat

3. Check the dist/VelocityDash_Final/ (or dist/DayiRunner_Final/) folder for your executable.

Troubleshooting 🔧

• "No module named pygame": Your virtual environment isn't active. Run venv\Scripts\activate (Windows) or source venv/bin/activate (macOS / Linux), then pip install pygame.
• "Black Screen": This usually happens with certain display scaling or fullscreen settings. Open main.py and ensure pygame.SCALED is used in the set_mode function instead of FULLSCREEN, or remove fullscreen flags.
• No Sound / mixer errors: The game includes a silent fallback mode for missing assets, but if you see mixer initialization errors, update audio drivers or try a smaller buffer. Ensure pygame.mixer.pre_init(...) runs before pygame.init() (the code usually does).

Contributing & License ❤️

• Feel free to fork this, add new obstacles, or improve the VFX.
• License: MIT — free to use, modify, and distribute.
• Assets: If you add custom sprites or audio to the assets/ folder, the game will automatically detect and use them.

Extras / Tips ✨

• Lower resolution or set PERFORMANCE_MODE = True in main.py to improve performance on low-end machines.
• If building with PyInstaller, run runner.bat in a terminal to see log output. If antivirus flags the executable, temporarily whitelist the output folder during testing.

---

If you want, I can:

• Add an MIT LICENSE file to the repo. 🧾
• Create a small placeholder assets/ pack (one image + one sound) so the game has default visuals and audio. 🖼️🔊
• Produce a one-line runnable script to auto-create & activate venv, install pygame, and launch the game. ⌨️

Tell me which of the above you'd like next and I will prepare it.