The theme of the book

Have you read high fantasy novels, such as The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien? Or watched the films based on these novels? Well, here is a high fantasy, "Tolkienesque" themed book on Python application development.

Tip

To find out more about J.R.R. Tolkien's work, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien. The term high fantasy is often used to represent a fantasy theme set in an alternate fictional world. Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fantasy for more information.

This book takes you to an imaginary world where you will develop a text game based on the aforementioned theme. Yes, you can continue being a developer even in this imaginary world! During the course of the book, you will be accompanied by many fictional characters. While you learn different aspects of Python development, these characters will talk to you, ask questions, request new features, and even fight with the enemy.

It should be noted that this book is not about developing game applications. It uses a simple text-based game just as a medium to learn various development aspects.

Tip

Off topic, if you are interested in playing a high fantasy theme game, there are quite a few to choose from. Among the open source ones, Battle for Wesnoth is one of the most highly rated, free, turn-based strategy games with a high fantasy theme. Check out https://www.wesnoth.org, for more details.

Meet the characters

Let's meet the imaginary characters who will accompany you in various chapters:

	Sir Foo A human knight who is portrayed as a grand knight guarding the southern plains. He is our main character and will be talking to us throughout the book.
	Orc Rider An Orc is a human-like imaginary creature. Here, it is portrayed as an enemy soldier. The Orc is seen riding a wild boar-like creature. You will see this creature in this chapter.
	Elf Rider An Elf is a supernatural mythical being. The Elf is mounted on an elvish horse. He is portrayed as a friendly. You will meet Mr. Elf in Chapter 6, Design Patterns.
	Fairy An intelligent fairy with an inherent capability for magic. She will use her magic just once while finding her enchanted locket in Chapter 7, Performance Identifying Bottlenecks, (See O(log n)). You will first meet her in Chapter 6, Design Patterns.
	Dwarf A Dwarf is a small human-like mythical being. He is portrayed as "The Great Dwarf" of the Foo mountains. He asks lots of questions. You will see him in the second half of the book, starting with Chapter 6, Design Patterns.

With this fun theme as a vehicle, let's start our journey with a simple command-line application. It will be a text-based game. The complexities added in subsequent chapters will challenge you with interesting problems. The book will show you how to gracefully handle such situations.