So, I'm teaching myself various AI techniques, and I figured the best way to do so would be to create my own Python bot which can play the game Pokemon using an online open-source Pokemon simulator.
The issue is that this simulator has all its source code written in JavaScript, whereas my bot uses Python. At first, I solved the problem of grabbing the full list of valid Pokemon and such by simply downloading the server's .js files, which (handily) contained all valid Pokemon/moves as JSON objects that I could easily import into Python. This was all well and good when I just needed Pokemon names and such, but now that I'm building out the actual engine I've discovered that it uses these same JSON files for its actual gameplay code.
For example, here's the Pokemon "Ability" Aftermath. Pay attention to onAfterDamage:
"aftermath": {
desc: "If this Pokemon is knocked out with a contact move, that move's user loses 1/4 of its maximum HP, rounded down. If any active Pokemon has the Damp Ability, this effect is prevented.",
shortDesc: "If this Pokemon is KOed with a contact move, that move's user loses 1/4 its max HP.",
id: "aftermath",
name: "Aftermath",
onAfterDamageOrder: 1,
onAfterDamage: function (damage, target, source, move) {
if (source && source !== target && move && move.flags['contact'] && !target.hp) {
this.damage(source.maxhp / 4, source, target);
}
},
rating: 2.5,
num: 106,
}
As you can see, onAfterDamage is a JavaScript function, one that I can't easily call from Python (to my knowledge). So now I'm at a crossroads:
Stop grabbing the .js files from the server and write my own code entirely in Python, essentially "translating" the JavaScript code myself.
Rewrite my entire bot in JavaScript instead of Python, although I'm far less experienced and comfortable in JavaScript.
Find a way to run the JavaScript code I'm downloading from the server from within my Python bot, calling arbitrary functions from within the code and returning the results.
Option 1 has the issue of rapidly becoming out of date -- when new Pokemon mechanics are introduced or new Pokemon are created, I wouldn't get it "for free" -- I'd have to figure out what changed and implement the changes myself.
I'd like to avoid Option 2 just because I'm not very comfortable writing JavaScript -- it's something I've dabbled with in the past, but it's far from my favorite language and not something I want to deal with when it's not the primary focus of my project.
I realize that Option 3 is a pretty massive security risk -- while I'm reasonably sure that a man-in-the-middle attack won't happen to a bot that likely nobody will ever use but myself, I'm still just downloading random JavaScript from a server somewhere and trying to execute it.
I've seen things like PyExecJS, but they're no longer maintained, and I haven't really seen anyone recommending a good replacement for them. PyExecJS's functionality is exactly what I'm looking for (namely the function execjs.eval(js_code)), but I'm not sure I want to use something that's reached EOL. I've seen the answers here, but they don't recommend any replacements for PyExecJS; they only show that user that they're using it wrong.
I've also seen people suggest Selenium or running a headless browser, but I'm not sure if I want to deal with all that extra overhead. The very first programming project I ever did outside of school was very similar to this, and I wound up coding it in Java using Selenium. I wasn't happy with that experience, and I'm not looking forward to having to do it again, especially when I only need to execute JavaScript I already have downloaded locally.
Am I completely off-base here? Is there another approach I should take, or should I just get to work translating all this JS code to Python by hand?
