py4cl2 VS trivial-gamekit

I... recently got that working: https://github.com/digikar99/py4cl2/tree/master/cffi - Yes, CFFI! Yes, passing CL array data by reference!

I ended up using a fair bit of matplotlib through college and with colleagues. I too don't want to use python, but I also don't like throwing away its libraries, and I'm too lazy to invest in other* plotting ecosystems. In effect, I use up using matplotlib through py4cl/2.

Note that it is not my aim to replace the python ecosystem; I think that is far too lofy a goal to be of any good. My original intention was to interoperate with python through py4cl/2 or the likes, but felt that one needs a Common Lisp library for "small" operations, while "large" operations can be offloaded to python libraries through py4cl/2.

Python: Blender and Panda3D (game engine used for Disney's Toontown way back when) are both scriptable with Python. I've been able to successfully call Panda from Py4CL2 (thanks digikar for the help with that), but I have not tried with Blender yet. I think it's doable.

While you are at it I may as well mention https://github.com/digikar99/py4cl2

If performance is absolutely not a concern, then third option is using python libraries through py4cl/2. To put it differently, if calling python from lisp is not the bottleneck, then this is a feasible option.

py4cl2 (not py4cl!) author here. From the v2.9.0 docs:

py4cl and py4cl2 represent a fairly pragmatic example of method 1, using an OS child process to communicate back and forth with your python code. Python is fairly popular and well-enabled with libraries, so you can delegate things to python that leverage those libraries.

If you can structure your code so that data de/serialization is not a bottleneck, then you could access the python libraries using py4cl/2.

If you insist on learning through game development -- and admittedly I learn best by just jumping in and doing something -- you should at least try making something simpler than a full 3D game first, like a roguelike: https://github.com/borodust/trivial-gamekit, https://borodust.org/projects/trivial-gamekit/.

For something simple, https://github.com/borodust/trivial-gamekit would do.

Playing with their 'trivial-gamekit' based on cl-bodge now, very nice I think!

https://borodust.org/projects/trivial-gamekit/

alien-works also looks cool and under active development

If all else fails, I recommend trying to contact author through creating an issue on github. If that fails too and you are too tired to continue that fight, have a look at trivial-gamekit (beware: shameful self-plug).

Learn Common Lisp and high-level 2D graphics using Sketch or trivial-gamekit. It's lispy, super fun and enjoyable way. Seriously. 2D graphics are easy to grasp and intuitive.