Hi,

I'm creating a game, and am quite new to Python generally.

I created a function 'descriptionGenerator()' which generates a description for characters and objects either randomly or using variables passed to it.

It seemed to be working, but every now and then it wouldn't work correctly. So i placed it in a loop, and it never seems to be able to complete the loop without one of the iterations having this problem.

The code is as follows:

#+------------------------------------------+
#| Name: bitsandpieces.py       |
#| A module for the 'Europa I' game         |
#|  created for the Game Making Competition |
#|                                  |
#| Date Created/Modified:                   |
#|          3/4/10 | 3/4/10                 |
#+------------------------------------------+

# Import the required modules
    # Import system modules:
import time
import random
    # Import 3rd party modules:

    # Import game modules:
# Define the 'descriptionGenerator()' function
def descriptionGenerator(descriptionVariables):
    descriptionVariableSize = len(descriptionVariables)
    if descriptionVariables[0] == 'char':
        # If there is only one variable ('char'), create a random description
        if descriptionVariableSize == 1:
            # Define choices for descriptionVariables to be generated from
            gender_choices = ['male', 'female']
            hair_choices = ['black', 'red', 'blonde', 'grey', 'brown', 'blue']
            hair_choices2 = ['long', 'short', 'cropped', 'curly']
            size_choices = ['tubby', 'thin', 'fat', 'almost twig-like']
            demeanour_choices = ['glowering', 'bright', 'smiling', 'sombre', 'intelligent']
            impression_choices = ['likeable', 'unlikeable', 'dangerous', 'annoying', 'afraid']
            # Define description variables
            gender = random.choice(gender_choices)
            height = str(float('0.' + str(random.randint(1, 9))) + float(random.randint(1, 2)))
            if float(height) > 1.8:
                height_string = 'tall'
                if float(height) > 2:
                    height_string = 'very tall'
            elif float(height) < 1.8 and float(height) > 1.5:
                height_string = 'average'
            elif float(height) < 1.5:
                height_string = 'short'
                if float(height) < 1.3:
                    height_string = 'very short'
            hair = random.choice(hair_choices2) + ' ' + random.choice(hair_choices)
            size = random.choice(size_choices)
            demeanour = random.choice(demeanour_choices)
            impression = random.choice(impression_choices)
            # Collect description variables in list 'randomDescriptionVariables'
            randomDescriptionVariables = ['char', gender, height, height_string, hair, size, demeanour, impression]
            # Generate description using the 'descriptionGenerator' function
            descriptionGenerator(randomDescriptionVariables)
        # Generate the description of a character using the variables passed to the function
        elif descriptionVariableSize == 8:
            if descriptionVariables[1] == 'male':
                if descriptionVariables[7] != 'afraid':
                    print """A %s man, about %s m tall. He has %s hair and is %s. He is %s and you get the impression that he is %s.""" %(descriptionVariables[3], descriptionVariables[2], descriptionVariables[4], descriptionVariables[5], descriptionVariables[6], descriptionVariables[7])
                elif descriptionVariables[7] == 'afraid':
                    print """A %s man, about %s m tall. He has %s hair and is %s. He is %s.\nYou feel that you should be %s of him.""" %(descriptionVariables[3], descriptionVariables[2], descriptionVariables[4], descriptionVariables[5], descriptionVariables[6], descriptionVariables[7])
            elif descriptionVariables[1] == 'female':
                if descriptionVariables[7] != 'afraid':
                    print """A %s woman, about %s m tall. She has %s hair and is %s. She is %s and you get the impression that she is %s.""" %(descriptionVariables[3], descriptionVariables[2], descriptionVariables[4], descriptionVariables[5], descriptionVariables[6], descriptionVariables[7])
                elif descriptionVariables[7] == 'afraid':
                    print """A %s woman, about %s m tall. She has %s hair and is %s. She is %s.\nYou feel that you should be %s of her.""" %(descriptionVariables[3], descriptionVariables[2], descriptionVariables[4], descriptionVariables[5], descriptionVariables[6], descriptionVariables[7])
        else:
            pass
    elif descriptionVariables[0] == 'obj':
        # Insert code here 2 deal with object stuff
        pass

print
print
myDescriptionVariables = ['char']
i = 0
while i < 30:
    print
    print
    print
    descriptionGenerator(myDescriptionVariables)
    i = i + 1
time.sleep(10)

When it fails to properly execute it says this:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/Jasper/Development/Programming/MyProjects/Game Making Challenge/Europa I/Code/Code 2.0/bitsandpieces.py", line 79, in <module>
    descriptionGenerator(myDescriptionVariables)
  File "/Users/Jasper/Development/Programming/MyProjects/Game Making Challenge/Europa I/Code/Code 2.0/bitsandpieces.py", line 50, in descriptionGenerator
    randomDescriptionVariables = ['char', gender, height, height_string, hair, size, demeanour, impression]
UnboundLocalError: local variable 'height_string' referenced before assignment

Thanks for any help with this