Here's another cool screenshot i took today, top view of the doomsday device second stage pic.twitter.com/bFXXlxzI0U

— HYPEX - Fortnite Leaks & News (@HYPEX) May 23, 2020

some updated/added animations for Underwater Swimming pic.twitter.com/pGYyhOr7kg

— FortTory - Fortnite Leaks & News (@FortTory) May 26, 2020

Epic Games are running their Annual Unreal Engine Spring Marketplace sale.  You can get a collection of 5000+ asset store items for up to 70% off, which 2k+ being at the maximum discounted amount.

Details from the Unreal Engine blog:

With up to 70% off more than 5,000 select Unreal Engine Marketplace products during the Spring Sale, the Marketplace is teeming with content to make development a breeze. Now through Wednesday, June 3 discover discounted construction kits, character collections, captivating countrysides, and so much more!

Uncover a treasure trove of products to help you construct lavish hotels and lively low-poly campsites, or vast solar systems with starry skyboxes and advanced sci-fi spaceships. Don’t miss out on ambient sounds and tracks to envelop your audience, explosive effects, and handy tools to tidy up your projects.
Sale lasts now through June 3 at 11:59 PM EDT. Happy shopping!

Please not the above Marketplace link was editing to the correct location.  You can also access the sale in the Epic Game Launcher.  You can learn more about the sale and assets available in the video below.

GameDev News Unreal Sale

The three companies behind beat ’em up revival Streets of Rage 4 held an AMA on reddit last week and revealed some details regarding their plans for the game, as well as hinting about upcoming projects.

Dotemu, Lizardcube and Guard Crush Games took part in the thread, and many of the questions focused on DLC plans for the game. It’s been previously stated that Guard Crush had ideas for additional content, and given the warm reception from fans and critics (we very much enjoyed the game), it seems like only a matter of time before we see some DLC.

Dotemu CEO Cyrille Imbert reiterated that although there are intentions to create more content, nothing is set in stone just yet:

We have many ideas, and we really want to add more content in the future. But nothing has been decided yet, so we are listening to you and will let you know “what” and “when” soon

Responding to a question from reddit user Cpt_Legs, Imbert later revealed that Dotemu is already working on more ‘similar’ projects:

Depending on how well 4 does, are sequels possibly going to be discussed or was this always planned as a one-off revival?

Hey there! We haven’t discussed it yet but we’d like to first focus on SoR4 and continue to add content. But at Dotemu we are currently working on three unanounced similar projects, so stay tuned

Among other things, the teams also discussed:

• the reason Skate/Sammy didn’t appear in SOR4 (“we didn’t want to commit to a visual design (like him appearing in a cutscene) without thinking of the his gameplay potential. Because if we show him, people will want him playable” – Guard Crush Games’ Bo Samson)
• the possibility of Streets of Rage 3‘s boxing marsupial Roo being playable in the future (“We will consider it” – Guard Crush’s Cyrille Lagarigue)
• and how Comix Zone is unlikely to be Lizardcube’s next SEGA series revival (“I never played Comix zone. I [sic] looks and feel like a great game but I’m not sure I would go making a game I have no connection with” – artist Ben Fiquet).

So, if Comix Zone is off the table, what do you think these ‘similar’ projects could be? There were plenty of suggestions to be found in the AMA, but let us know below what old franchise you would like Dotemu and co. to revive next.

Do you want to convert a Python set to a list? Use the list(...) constructor and pass the set object as an argument. For example, to convert a set of strings friends into a list, use the code expression list(friends).

Here’s an example code snippet that converts the set to a list using the list(...) constructor:

# Create the set of strings

friends = {'Alice', 'Ann', 'Bob'} # Convert the set to a list

l = list(friends) # Print both

print(friends)

print(l) '''

{'Ann', 'Alice', 'Bob'}

['Alice', 'Ann', 'Bob'] '''

Try it in our interactive Python shell:

Exercise: Add more elements to the set. Does the list always have the same order as the set?

Python Set to List Order

A set is defined as an unordered collection of unique elements. The keyword is “unordered” here. Python does not guarantee any particular order of the elements in the resulting list. If you convert a set to a list, the elements can have an arbitrary order.

Python Set to List Keep Order

But what if you want to preserve the order when converting a set to a list (and, maybe, back)?

I’ve written a detailed article on this topic so check it out if you need more info.

Create a dictionary from the elements in the list to remove all duplicates and convert the dictionary back to a list. This preserves the order of the original list elements.

lst = ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Bob', 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3]

print(list(dict.fromkeys(lst)))

# ['Alice', 'Bob', 1, 2, 3]

1. Convert the list to a dictionary with dict.fromkeys(lst).
2. Convert the dictionary into a list with list(dict).

Each list element becomes a new key to the dictionary. For example, the list [1, 2, 3] becomes the dictionary {1:None, 2:None, 3:None}. All elements that occur multiple times will be assigned to the same key. Thus, the dictionary contains only unique keys—there cannot be multiple equal keys.

As dictionary values, you take dummy values (per default).

Then, you convert the dictionary back to a list, throwing away the dummy values.

Here’s the code:

>>> lst = [1, 1, 1, 3, 2, 5, 5, 2]

>>> dic = dict.fromkeys(lst)

>>> dic

{1: None, 3: None, 2: None, 5: None}

>>> duplicate_free = list(dic)

>>> duplicate_free

[1, 3, 2, 5]

This way, you can simply use the ordered dictionary data type.

Related blog articles:

• Python List to Set Conversion
• Python Remove Duplicates From List of Lists
• Python List Remove
• The Ultimate Guide to Python Dictionaries!

Python Set to List Sorted

Problem: Convert a set to a sorted list.

Example: Convert set {0, 9, 8, 3} to the sorted list [0, 3, 8, 9].

Solution: Use the sorted(...) method that creates a new list from any iterable you pass as an argument.

Code: Let’s have a look at the source code that solves the problem!

s = {0, 9, 8, 3}

l = sorted(s)

print(l)

# [0, 3, 8, 9]

Exercise: Can you modify the code so that the elements are sorted in descending order?

Python Set to List Unpacking

An alternative method to convert a set to a list is unpacking with the asterisk operator *. You can simply unpack all elements in set s into an empty list by using the asterisk as a prefix within an empty list like this [*s]. It’s a fast and Pythonic way of converting a set to a list. And it has the advantage that you can also convert multiple sets into a single list like this: [*s1, *s2, ..., *sn].

Here’s the minimal example:

s1 = {1, 2}

s2 = {3, 4}

s3 = {5, 6, 7, 8} l1 = [*s1]

l2 = [*s1, *s2]

l3 = [*s1, *s2, *s3] print(l1)

print(l2)

print(l3) '''

[1, 2]

[1, 2, 3, 4]

[1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 5, 6, 7] '''

Exercise: Play with the following code unpacking a fourth set into a new list l4.

Python Set to List Complexity

The time complexity of converting a set to a list is linear in the number of list elements. So, if the set has n elements, the asymptotic complexity is O(n). The reason is that you need to iterate over each element in the set which is O(n), and append this element to the list which is O(1). Together the complexity is O(n) * O(1) = O(n * 1) = O(n).

Here’s the pseudo-code implementation of the set to list conversion method:

def set_to_list(s): l = [] # Repeat n times --> O(n) for x in s: # Append element to list --> O(1) l.append(x) return s friends = {'Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann', 'Liz', 'Alice'}

l = set_to_list(friends)

print(l)

# {'Alice', 'Liz', 'Ann', 'Bob'}

Need help understanding this code snippet? Try visualizing it in your browser—just click “Next” to see what the code does in memory:

Python Add Set to List

Problem: Given a list l and a set s. Add all elements in s to list l.

Example: Given is list ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann'] and set {42, 21}. You want to get the resulting list ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann', 42, 21].

Solution: Use the list.extend(iterable) method to add all elements in the iterable to the list.

Code: The following code accomplishes this.

l = ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann']

s = {42, 21}

l.extend(s)

print(l)

# ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann', 42, 21]

Exercise: download your free Python cheat sheets and join my free community of Python coders who love their trade.

TypeError: ‘set’ object is not callable

Sometimes you can see the following seemingly strange behavior (e.g., here):

s = set([1, 2, 3])

l = list(s)

The output may give you the following cryptic error message:

TypeError: 'set' object is not callable

The reason is—in all likelihood—that you overwrote the name set in your namespace. This happens if you assign a value to a variable called ‘set’. Python will assume that set is a variable—and tells you that you cannot call variables.

Here’s code that will cause this issue:

set = {1, 2}

lst = [1, 2, 3]

s = set(lst) '''

Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\Users\xcent\Desktop\code.py", line 3, in <module> s = set(lst)

TypeError: 'set' object is not callable '''

You can fix it by using another variable name so that the built-in function set() is not overshadowed:

s0 = {1, 2}

lst = [1, 2, 3]

s = set(lst)

Now, no such error is thrown because the set name correctly points to the Python built-in constructor function.

Where to Go From Here?

Enough theory, let’s get some practice!

To become successful in coding, you need to get out there and solve real problems for real people. That’s how you can become a six-figure earner easily. And that’s how you polish the skills you really need in practice. After all, what’s the use of learning theory that nobody ever needs?

Practice projects is how you sharpen your saw in coding!

Do you want to become a code master by focusing on practical code projects that actually earn you money and solve problems for people?

Then become a Python freelance developer! It’s the best way of approaching the task of improving your Python skills—even if you are a complete beginner.

Join my free webinar “How to Build Your High-Income Skill Python” and watch how I grew my coding business online and how you can, too—from the comfort of your own home.

Join the free webinar now!

Amazon Games and Bandai Namco have partnered on a brand new Pac-Man experience called Pac-Man Live Studio that will be playable directly through Twitch.

The free title will allow fans to play and create Pac-Man levels directly in the Pac-Man Live Studio Twitch channel, and won’t require any downloads.

The Twitch-centric title has been rolled out to celebrate the famous yellow puck’s 40th birthday, and will feature different modes like Maze Creator, Classic Mode, and Endless Mode.

Maze creator will let people create and share their own chomping grounds, which can then be played and rated by the Twitch community.

Classic mode is the original 1980s version of the title, expect with a high-score board that comprises the entire Twitch playerbase, and Endless Mode challenges four-player teams to work together to beat a never-ending stream of mazes.

It’s currently unclear when Pac Man Live Studio will actually launch, with Amazon Games simply explaining the title is “coming soon to Twitch.”

The Italian government has announced that its plans for financial support for businesses during the COVID-19 crisis will include funds for the country’s game development studios.

Per a press release sent to Gamasutra, the government has announced the creation of the First Playable Fund, an economic resource aimed at funding the creation of game prototypes and supporting the industry as the country recovers from the initial spread of COVID-19.

The announcement came with support from the country’s game industry trade organization, the Italian Interactive Digital Entertainment Association (IIDEA). The government has set aside €4,000,000 for the fund, and will reward between €10,000 and €200,000 per prototype.

IIDEA director-general Thalita Malago noted that the organization has been trying to secure government funding for the country’s industry for some time. “We are happy that with the DL Rilancio – or Relaunch Decree – it was possible to take the first step in this direction,” he said.

The release provided some interesting context for this government support as well. A survey from the European Game Developer Federation noted that developers from the south of Europe are the most pessimistic about studio survival, which may be a result of both the virus’ heavy impact on the region, and a previous lack of government and investor support for an industry that had to go toe-to-toe with companies from other countries.