From DevMaster.net:

Thousand Parsec is a vibrant free and open source project, creating a framework for 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate) space strategy games. We are happy to announce that this year we are also participating in Google Summer of Code as a mentoring organisation. We have prepared a special page with information and ideas for students, who would like to work on a task for Thousand Parsec. Join us, it will be fun, you’ll gain a new experience, learn something new, play games and if you finish successfully you can even get 4500$. The deadline for submissions of student applications is 24th of March.

For those of you who are eligible to participate in Google Summer of Code, this seems to be an interesting project to participate in. Aside from the possibility of earning money, you will actually get to work on a large project with other people - a big step from the simple examples that we have considered in this site so far. If you plan to join the game industry anytime in the future, this is you chance to gain experience.

Another fact that caught my attention is this project’s extensive use of Python. If you’ve been to this site before, then you’re probably already familiar with Python. If not, I encourage you to look into it - I think that it’s a great language to work with, and if you’re already familiar with programming, it should only take you less than a weekend to pick it up.

Some of the Python-related tasks listed on the site include:

Several of the tasks call for “Good Python Skills”. If you’re looking for a project to work on, I suggest that you give this a look.

And yes, there are several C++ - related jobs as well :)

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