Stewart Watkiss

Beginning Game Programming with Pygame Zero

Coding Interactive Games on Raspberry Pi Using Python

Stewart Watkiss
Redditch, UK
ISBN 978-1-4842-5649-7e-ISBN 978-1-4842-5650-3
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-5650-3
Apress standard
© Stewart Watkiss 2020
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While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
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For my children Oliver and Amelia.

You are the inspiration in my life.

Introduction

This book is designed for anyone wanting to learn programming through making fun games. It will also be useful for someone who has already learned the basics of programming and wants to learn how to add fun graphics and create their own games.

It is focused on making the games rather than teaching programming theory. In this book, you're more likely to see code on how gravity affects a missile’s trajectory rather than the most efficient way to search through data. Even then the code is kept simple as games should be more about playability rather than complex physics.

The book starts with a simple text-based game to cover the basics of programming in Python. It then quickly moves on to creating simple graphical games in Pygame Zero. The book introduces object-oriented programming to make it easier to make more complex games. It also explains how you can create your own graphics and sounds.

Throughout the book, you will get to apply the new techniques in a variety of 2D games. As well as some new games, there are some variations on class games including a space shooter game and battleships.

The games are designed to run on the Raspberry Pi, although they can be used on other platforms that support Python 3 with Pygame Zero .

The games you make will be playable and hopefully fun to play. They are only the beginning. If all you ever do is copy the code from this book, then you are only going to learn so much, but by adapting and improving these games, they can become more enjoyable as well as helping you learn more than you ever will from just typing out code that's written down for you. For each of the games, there is a list of suggestions for you to develop the games further.

All the code and resource files used in the book are available from the page to accompany the book at https://www.apress.com/gb/book/9781484256497 .

Acknowledgments

My family has been very supportive in my maker activities and while writing this book. Thank you to my wife Sarah for her support and to my children Oliver and Amelia who have been a source of inspiration and help while writing the book. Oliver has been particularly helpful in testing the games and giving me feedback, and my daughter’s knowledge of music was a great help while writing about making sounds.

I’d also like to thank the team behind the Raspberry Pi including the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the community that has grown around it. I’ve also been inspired by the work of Nicholas Tollervey who created the Mu editor that is used throughout the book and Daniel Pope who created Pygame Zero, without which the book wouldn’t have been possible.

I’m also grateful to all the support from the team at Apress, to Jessica Vakili for her support in putting the book together, and to Sai Yamanoor for the technical review. There are also many other people who helped to contribute through reviews and getting the book production ready.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1:​ Creating Computer Games 1
Inspiration Rather Than Imitation 2
Playing Games 3
Create the Resources 3
Development Cycle 4
Making Programming Enjoyable 6
Python and Pygame Zero 6
Compiled vs.​ Interpreted 7
Choosing a Programming Environment 8
Summary 10
Chapter 2:​ Getting Started with Python 11
Using the Mu Editor 11
Python Programming 15
Variables 19
Strings and Format 24
Lists 27
Dictionaries 30
Tuples 31
Conditional Statements (if, elif, else) 31
Simple Quiz Game 35
Loops – While, For 37
While Loop 38
For Loop 39
Forever Loop – while True 41
Changing Loop Flow – break and continue 41
Functions 42
Variable Scope 44
Refactoring the Code 47
Further Improvements 48
Summary 49
Chapter 3:​ Pygame Zero 51
Pygame Zero Development 51
Compass Game 52
Required Files 53
Running Mu in Pygame Zero Mode 54
Adding a Background Image 55
Adding an Actor 57
Moving the Sprite Around the Screen 60
Making the Movements More Realistic 63
Keeping Game State 67
Detecting Collisions 73
Change in Direction 77
Keeping Score 78
Adding a Countdown Timer 81
Final Code for Compass Game Version 0.​1 83
Summary 89
Chapter 4:​ Game Design 91
What Makes a Game Enjoyable?​ 91
Challenging but Achievable 92
Choices and Consequences 93
Rewards and Progress 94
Likeable Characters 94
Storyline/​Historical Relevance 95
Educational 95
Takes an Appropriate Level of Time to Play 95
Inclusivity 96
Age Appropriate 96
Improving Compass Game 97
Updated Timer 97
Adding Obstacles 100
Adding a High Score 104
Try and Except 107
Summary 110
Chapter 5:​ Graphic Design 111
Creating a Theme 112
File Formats 113
Bitmap Images 113
Vector Images 115
Useful Tools 116
LibreOffice Draw 116
Inkscape 118
GIMP 120
Blender 127
Create Using Code 129
Other Sources 130
Summary 130
Chapter 6:​ Colors 131
Color Mixing 131
Bouncing Ball 135
Background Color Selector 139
Handling Mouse Events 140
Creating the Color Selector 141
Summary 143
Chapter 7:​ Tank Game Zero 145
Vector Image of Tank 145
Creating a Dynamic Landscape 152
Calculating the Trajectory 157
Detecting a Collision 161
Complete Game Code 163
Improving the Game 179
Summary 180
Chapter 8:​ Sound 181
Recording Sound Effects 181
Creating Artificial Sound Effects 182
Recording Audio on the Raspberry Pi 183
Connecting a USB Microphone 185
Using arecord 186
Audacity 187
Recording Sounds with Audacity 188
Creating Music with Sonic Pi 190
Downloading Free Sounds and Music 193
Adding Sound Effects in Pygame Zero 193
Playing Music in Pygame Zero 194
Piano Game Created with Tones 195
Summary 205
Chapter 9:​ Object-Oriented Programming 207
What Is Object-Oriented Programming?​ 207
OOP Classes and Objects 209
Creating a Class, Attributes, and Methods 209
Creating an Instance of a Class (Object) 211
Accessing Attributes of an Object 213
Terminology 213
Encapsulation and Data Abstraction 215
Inheritance 216
Design for Object-Oriented Programming 218
Matching Pairs Memory Game 219
Creating the Classes 223
Program File 233
Summary 241
Chapter 10:​ Artificial Intelligence 243
Memory Game with AI 244
A Good Memory 263
Battleships 271
Summary 291
Chapter 11:​ Improvements and Debugging 293
Additional Techniques 293
More About Pygame Zero 294
More About Pygame 295
Adding Fonts 296
Scrolling Screen 296
Reading from a CSV config file 298
Joysticks and Gamepads 301
Creating Arcade Games for Picade 302
RetroPie 304
Debugging 306
Error Messages 307
Check for Variable Names 308
Print Statements 308
IDE Debugging Tools 309
Rubber Duck Debugging 309
Performance 310
Space Shooter Game 312
Summary 328
Where Next?​ 328
Appendix A:​ Quick Reference 331
Pygame Zero 331
Useful Keywords 331
Actor (Sprite) 331
Background Image or Color 332
Sound Effects 332
Mouse Events 332
Keyboard Events 333
Displaying Text 333
Python 3 334
Lists 334
Dictionaries 334
Conditional Statements (if, elif, else) 335
Loops 335
Python 3 Modules 336
Random 336
Math 336
Time 337
DateTime 338
Appendix B:​ More Information 339
Python 339
Pygame Zero 339
Pygame 340
Index 341
About the Author and About the Technical Reviewer
About the Author
Stewart Watkiss
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is a keen maker and programmer. He has a master’s degree in electronic engineering from the University of Hull and a master’s degree in computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology.

He has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry, working in computer networking, Linux system administration, technical support, and cyber security. While working toward Linux certification, he created the web site www.penguintutor.com . The web site originally provided information for those studying toward certification but has since added information on electronics, projects, and learning computer programming.

Stewart often gives talks and runs workshops at local Raspberry Pi events. He is also a STEM Ambassador and Code Club volunteer, helping to support teachers and children learning programming.

 
About the Technical Reviewer
Sai Yamanoor

is an embedded systems engineer working for an industrial gases company in Buffalo, NY. His interests, deeply rooted in DIY and open source hardware, include developing gadgets that aid behavior modification. He has published two books with his brother, and in his spare time, he likes to contribute to build things that improve quality of life. You can find his project portfolio at http://saiyamanoor.com .

 
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