Vocabulary Football (VocBall)¶
VocBall is a simple application to play vocabulary football in class.
The program is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3.
Contents¶
Installation on Linux¶
Installing VocBall¶
Before installing Vocabulary Football please check the Dependencies at the bottom.
After downloading the source code from GitLab extract the archive to a folder of your choice.
To install Vocabulary Football simply run the script install.sh in the main directory.
To uninstall the application run the script uninstall.sh.
Running uninstalled¶
If you downloaded the application from GitLab and don’t want to install Vocabulary Football, simply execute run.sh in the main directory.
In this case the game is only available with an English graphical user interface.
Dependencies¶
Build-time dependencies¶
As build-time dependencies you either need Meson or pip and gettext for localization.
Install the dependenices by using the following shell command:
- Arch Linux:
sudo pacman -S meson gettext python-pip - Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt install meson gettext python3-pip - Fedora:
sudo dnf install meson gettext python3-pip - openSUSE:
sudo zypper install meson gettext-tools python3-pip
Runtime dependencies¶
Vocabulary Football strongly depends on Python 3 and GTK+ 3:
- GTK+ 3 (>= 3.16)
- Python 3 (>= 3.3)
- PyGObject (>= 3.16)
- Pycairo (>= 1.10)
Install the runtime dependencies by using the following shell command:
- Arch Linux:
sudo pacman -S python-cairo python-gobject gtk3 - Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt install python3-gi-cairo gir1.2-gtk-3.0 - Fedora:
sudo dnf install pycairo python3-gobject3 gtk3 - openSUSE:
sudo zypper install python3-cairo python3-gobject-Gdk libgtk-3-0
Installation on Windows¶
Installing VocBall¶
To install VocBall just follow the setup wizard of VocabularyFootballSetup.exe.
Building¶
You can build a Windows executable file and package on your own. Therefor you need to install the development platform MSYS2. Just follow the installation instructions given in the documentaton of PyGObject.
For freezing the Python files into a standalone executable you have to use PyInstaller (>= 3.6). To start the build process open a mingw64 terminal and type in the following command in the main directory of VocBall:
pyinstaller setup-win.spec
The full package will be created in the folder dist.
Getting started¶
Vocabulary list¶
To play Vocabulary Football you need a vocabulary list. You can use the build-in vocabulary editor, which features easy and intuitive operation, to create new lists or edit existing ones.
Alternatively, you can create and edit vocabulary lists as CSV or TXT files by your own. Please note that the application can only load files with the following data structure:
[unit],[vocable],[translation]
Your vocabulary list should look like this example (separated by comma, semicolon or tab):
1,this,dies
1,is,ist
2,an,ein
2,example,Beispiel
Settings¶
There are several general settings you may adapt to your needs.
Moreover you can change some options regarding to vocabulary lists, especially the mode of vocabulary selection during the game (only source language / only target language / both languages).
Teams and player numbers¶
Like real football Vocabulary Football is played between two teams. Both teams should be equally big and consist of 5 to 16 players. Each player of a team has got a number (like on a football jersey). The players with the same number compete against each other. When every student is assigned to his/her team and number, you can start the game.
How to play¶
Setting up the game¶
After starting the game you’ll see the main window of the application. Open the options window by pressing the button “New Game”.
First click on the button “Load Vocabulary List” and navigate to the file you want to open. Now you can choose the units you want your students to repeat.
Type in the name of the teams. If you like, you can change the team color and number of scored goals. Finally select the number of players each team consists of and press the button “Apply”.
Playing the game¶
You’ll find the team names and the current scores in the header bar. Click on the button “Kick-off!” to start the game.
Now a countdown starts which you’ll see right under the header bar. At the same time two jerseys with the current player number will appear near the ball on the football field.
When the countdown is finished, a random vocable will be shown on the spot. It has to be translated by the students who have got the current player number.
After a correct answer move the football towards the opponents goal by clicking on the appropriate arrow (or by pressing the left or right arrow key). After a wrong answer move the ball to the other direction.
When the football reaches the left or the right side of the screen, a goal is scored. Continue the game by clicking on the button “Kick-off!” (or pressing the enter key).
Development¶
Roadmap¶
The current version of Vocabulary Football is 1.3.0.
For future releases the following features are planned:
- better support for HiDPI
- port to GTK 4
Bugs¶
Known Bugs¶
At the moment no bugs are known.
Filing A Bug¶
If you’ve found a bug in VocBall, please head over to GitLab and file a report. Filing bugs helps improve the software for everyone.
Credits¶
Vocabulary Football is developed by Thomas Dähnrich.
Special thanks go to:
- Joe Hamilton (for his fabulous simpleaudio package)
- the developers of MSYS2, PyInstaller and Inno Setup
- the Latin students of the Vicco-von-Bülow-Gymnasium Falkensee (for being enthusiastic beta testers)