Pygame Course · Learn Coding by Making Games

• 1. Student Introduction Activities
• 2. Learning Goals
• 3. Install Python & Thonny
• 4. Simple Video Game (Code-1)
• 5. Challenge: Modify the Game
• 6. Python Essentials
• 7. Pygame Essentials
• 8. What is a Video Game?
• 9. Components of a Video Game
• 10. Adding Images (Code-2)
• 11. Multiple Cacti (Code-3)
• 12. More Fun Ideas
• 13. Quick Reference Cheatsheet
• 14. Common Errors & Solutions
• 15. Check Your Understanding
• 16. Your Progress Tracker

• Every 2 students team up, ask them the following information:
  • What's your name?
  • Do you have coding experience before?
  • Do you like playing video games?
  • What is a fun fact about you?
  • What is your expectation by taking this class?
• You will need to introduce your classmate to the others.

• Understand and apply fundamental Python programming concepts, including variables, conditionals, loops, and functions.
• Read, modify, and write Python code to create interactive programs.
• Design and implement basic video game mechanics such as player input, movement, scoring, and win/loss conditions.
• Use a Python game framework (Pygame) to manage graphics, sound, and game events.
• Work independently and collaboratively to develop a complete coding project.
• Build confidence in learning programming and exploring future pathways in computer science and game development.

There are many ways to write and run Python code. In this course, we will use Thonny (great for beginners).

• Go to https://thonny.org
• Download Thonny (choose Mac, Windows, or Linux version)
• Install it by double-clicking. You should find it under the Downloads folder.

We will write, understand, and modify this code. It produces a simple jumping game.

Let's play the game and have some fun!

  1 import pygame
  2 pygame.init()
  3 screen = pygame.display.set_mode((800, 400))
  4 clock = pygame.time.Clock()
  5 
  6 player = pygame.Rect(80, 300, 40, 40)
  7 cactus = pygame.Rect(800, 300, 30, 40)
  8 gravity = 0
  9 
 10 while True:
 11     for event in pygame.event.get():
 12         if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
 13             pygame.quit()
 14             exit()
 15 
 16     keys = pygame.key.get_pressed()
 17     if keys[pygame.K_SPACE] and player.bottom >= 400:
 18         gravity = -20
 19 
 20     gravity += 1
 21     player.y += gravity
 22     if player.bottom > 400:
 23         player.bottom = 400
 24 
 25     cactus.x -= 5
 26     if cactus.x < -50:
 27         cactus.x = 900
 28 
 29     screen.fill((255,255,255))
 30     pygame.draw.rect(screen, (0,255,0), player)
 31     pygame.draw.rect(screen, (255,0,0), cactus)
 32     pygame.display.flip()
 33     clock.tick(60)
        

• Variables
• Loops & Conditions
• Strings
• f-strings
• Lists & Tuples
• Dictionaries
• Functions
• Import
• Classes

Can you find the above concepts in Code-1?

Pygame is a Python package for making games.

Key concepts: Game Loop, Events, Rectangles, Coordinate System, Collision Detection

• 5 Big Pygame Concepts
• More About Pygame

• Image vs Movie
• Movie vs Video Game (interactivity is key!)

• Images
• Sound
• Rules
• Interactive

A video game is all about where, when, and how we put images (and play sounds).

You also need to download these two images:

Make sure to put the code and images in the same folder.

  1 import pygame
  2 from sys import exit
  3 from random import randint
  4 
  5 pygame.init()
  6 screen = pygame.display.set_mode((800, 400))
  7 pygame.display.set_caption('Game')
  8 clock = pygame.time.Clock()
  9 
 10 game_active = False
 11 gravity = 0
 12 
 13 # Player image
 14 player_img = pygame.image.load('player.png').convert_alpha()
 15 player_img = pygame.transform.rotozoom(player_img, 0, 0.5)
 16 player_rect = player_img.get_rect(midbottom=(80, 400))
 17 
 18 # Cactus image
 19 cactus_img = pygame.image.load('cactus.png').convert_alpha()
 20 cactus_rect = cactus_img.get_rect(midbottom=(randint(900, 1100), 400))
 21 
 22 while True:
 23     # ... event handling ...
 24     if game_active:
 25         screen.blit(player_img, player_rect)
 26         screen.blit(cactus_img, cactus_rect)
 27     # ... rest of game loop ...
        

Note: Code-2 adds a game over screen, start screen, and collision detection!

Instead of one cactus, we use a LIST to store multiple cacti!

 22 # List to store active cacti
 23 active_cacti = []
 24 last_spawn_time = pygame.time.get_ticks()
 25 
 54 # Update all cacti
 55 for cactus_rect in active_cacti[:]:
 56     cactus_rect.x -= 6
 57     if cactus_rect.x <= -100:
 58         active_cacti.remove(cactus_rect)
 59 
 60 # Spawn new cactus every 1 second
 61 if current_time - last_spawn_time > 1000:
 62     last_spawn_time = current_time
 63     new_cactus = cactus_img.get_rect(midbottom=(900, 400))
 64     active_cacti.append(new_cactus)
        

Now that you understand the basic game, here are some ways to make it more exciting!

Visual Improvements

• Add a background image – Load a desert or grassland background instead of a white screen.
• Change colors – Make the player blue, the cactus brown, or add a colorful sky.
• Add animations – Load multiple images and cycle through them to make the player look like it's running.
• Add a score display – Show how many cacti the player has successfully passed.
• Add a start screen – Show a title screen before the game begins.
• Add moving clouds – Draw clouds that scroll across the screen for atmosphere.

Audio

• Add jump sound – Play a "whoosh" sound when the player jumps.
• Add collision sound – Play a "crash" sound when hitting a cactus.
• Add background music – Play looping music while the game is active.

Gameplay Mechanics

• Increase difficulty over time – Make cacti move faster as the score increases.
• Add double jump – Allow the player to jump twice.
• Add power-ups – Shields, speed boosts, or invincibility.
• Add different obstacle types – Birds, rocks, or holes.
• Add lives system – 3 lives before game over.

• pygame.error: Couldn't open player.png → Make sure the image is in the SAME folder as your Python file.
• IndentationError → Python cares about spaces! All code inside loops must be indented.
• NameError: name 'xxx' is not defined → Check spelling of variable names.
• Window not responding → Did you forget pygame.display.flip()?
• ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pygame' → Run pip install pygame in terminal.
• Game runs too fast/slow → Check clock.tick(60). Smaller number = slower.

1. What does pygame.Rect(80, 300, 40, 40) mean?
2. What does gravity += 1 do?
3. Why do we need clock.tick(60)?
4. What happens if we remove screen.fill((255,255,255))?
5. How does collision detection work?
6. What is the difference between pygame.image.load() and .convert_alpha()?
7. Why do we use a list (active_cacti = []) for multiple cacti?