Remade the 1991 Classic 'Gorillas' in Python—and Survived the Snapcraft Journey

Source: Dev.to

The Nostalgia Hit 🍌

Remember the two gorillas standing on a skyline, tossing exploding bananas at each other? I decided to bring that back by remaking the classic QBasic Gorillas using Python and Pygame.

Features include:

• Randomly generated city skylines
• Parabolic physics (gravity is a beast)
• The classic sun that reacts when hit
• Screen shake for that “modern” retro feel

The Tech Stack

Language

Python 3.12

Library

Pygame (for the heavy lifting of 2D rendering)

Distribution

Snapcraft (Ubuntu Snaps)

The “Snap” Struggle is Real 🛠️

Packaging this for Linux was an adventure. I wanted to make it easy for anyone to install without messing with virtual environments, but I hit every wall possible:

• Python Plugin: Getting the interpreter to behave inside a clean container was tricky.
• Confinement: Switching to classic confinement was the key to getting audio and video drivers working smoothly across different distros.
• Destructive Fix: Learning to use --destructive-mode when my local container felt stubborn.

How to Play

If you are on Linux, you can try it out right now (waiting for store approval, but you can build from source!):

git clone https://github.com/davdomin/gorillas-retro-remake
python3 src/main.py

What’s Next? 🚀

I’m currently thinking about adding a multiplayer mode via IP connection. Is it overkill for a 1991 remake? Maybe. Is it going to be fun to code? Absolutely.

Check out the code here: