Program Arcade GamesWith Python And Pygame
Before getting started...
If you already know why you want to learn to program games and just want to learn how to get started, then you can skip over this section down to the next section on how to install the software you need.
Are you here because you want to create your own games? Excellent!
Here are some videos of games students have created by the end of this course:
As you start to learn to program, you might soon find that it looks like work. We all know we'd rather skip work and go farming for gold in World of Warcraft or Eve Online or some other game, right? So why learn to program? What does a person get out of it?
0.1 Learn to Make Games and Get Paid
Learn how to make games and get paid? Ok, I won't pay you, but if you learn to program, there are plenty of people that will pay you. Here's how to profit:
- Learn to program games.
- Have fun making your own games.
- Select favorite job offer.
- Profit.
Look, no ??? in this plan!
Think about it. You can play games, but anyone can do that. Being great at a video game really isn't much of an accomplishment in life if you think about it. Or you can learn to create games. People care about that.
While you may be studing how to program games, tell your parents and co-workers you are studying computer science. It sounds better.
0.1.1 Why Study Computer Science?
Back to money. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), Computer Engineering is the best-paid degree, Computer Science is third best paying degree, and Information Science is the 10th. Most of the other degrees are also in technology-related and involve software:
| Top-Paid Bachelor's Degrees | |
| Major | Average Salary Offer |
| Computer Engineering | $70,400 |
| Chemical Engineering | $66,400 |
| Computer Science | $64,400 |
| Aerospace Engineering | $64,000 |
| Mechanical Engineering | $62,900 |
| Electrical/Electronics & Communications Engineering | $62,300 |
| Civil Engineering | $57,600 |
| Finance | $57,300 |
| Construction Science | $56,600 |
| Information Sciences & Systems | $56,100 |
(Data is from the NACE January 2013 Salary Survey.)
Computer engineers work at integrating computer programs with hardware. In today's engineering market, most of those engineering jobs will need to know some computer programming.
What is Information Science? This is a degree for people who like computers and technology but never really liked programming. This book aims to make sure that isn't you. Programming is fun, and who wants to settle for only 10th in the list of best-paying degrees?
While learning to program games, you can be studying towards one of the best paying four-year degrees you can get. And let's be honest, those engineering degrees usually take five years. Computer science is a great bet for a career.
Not only are computer science graduates getting high-paying offers, they are the most likely to get an offer when applying. According to NACE more than 56 percent of majors get an offer when applying. This is because there are few students going into a field that is in high-demand. To get an idea how Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) jobs compare to the students, see Figure 0.2 and Figure 0.3.
What about a two-year school to learn programming? After all, two year schools offer a cheaper alternative to four year colleges. Way cheaper. But I'll offer the following data as a caution about choosing a two year school:
| Average salary by education level | |
|---|---|
| Vocational/Tech School | $59,729 |
| Some College | $72,197 |
| College Graduate (4-Year) | $81,539 |
| Master's Degree | $98,911 |
| Doctoral Degree | $112,772 |
According to Dice.com's survey data,
people in a technology career who graduate from a two-year school averaged $21,000 less
than people who went to a four-year school. In fact, they did worse than dropouts from
four-year colleges!
So go to a four-year school and skip the two-year school entirely.
(Data is according to the 2011-2012 Dice Technical Salary Survey. Note that the salary listed
is not the average starting salary. The numbers represent the average salary of all workers, no
matter how experienced.) Of course, I think Simpson College has the best Computer Science department
in the midwest:
http://simpson.edu/computer-science
0.1.2 Get The Most From This Class
Looking to make your time here worthwhile? Answer the chapter questions! Don't skip them. They are necessary to understand the material.
Do the labs! This is even more important. Learning by only reading the material is about as useful as trying to become an expert basketball player only by reading a book.
Practice! You might see other people that don't have to practice. It isn't fair. Or, you might be smarter than other people, and they start doing better than you because they work at it and you don't. That's not fair either. That's life. Get used to it. Practice.
Are you taking this as a class? Great! Did you know you can save time and copy the answers and labs from the Internet? You can also buy yourself a gym membership and send someone else to work out for you. It makes about as much sense.
Seriously, what on earth are you thinking copying from someone else? If you aren't going to do the work drop out now and start filling out McDonald's applications.
If reading isn't your learning style, most of the information is available
through videos. You can skip the text entirely and just watch the videos by
checking out the YouTube playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1D91F4E6E79E73E1
You can't learn without doing the work though. Do the reading. Ask questions.
Do the labs. Ask questions. Do the worksheets. Ask questions. Listen to the videos.
And ask your teacher questions.
0.1.3 Send Feedback
This is the text I use with the Simpson College class:
Computer Science 150
Fundamentals of Computing I
There is a print version and an
on-line version. The on-line version is at:
http://ProgramArcadeGames.com
The goal of the text, website, worksheets, labs, and videos is
to teach basic computer
science concepts and get students programming their own games as soon as
possible.
Drop me a note!
If you are using it for self-study or for another class, please drop me a note. The more people that use this resource, the more effort I'll put into improving it.
I've heard from a few high schools that use this material. If you are a student at one of these high schools, and liked this material, consider checking out Simpson College. We'd love the chance to be able to work with you. Contact myself or admissions for more information.
If you notice any errors or omissions in the book, please send
me an e-mail. I'd like this to be the best resource possible.
Dr. Paul Vincent Craven
Department Head, Computer Science Department
Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa, USA
paul.craven@simpson.edu
0.2 Installing and Starting Python
To get started, two programs need to be installed, Python and Pygame. Python is the computer language we will program in, and Pygame is a library of commands that will help make writing games easier.
0.2.1 Windows Installation
If you are working with a computer that already has Python and Pygame set up on it, you can skip this step. But if you want to set up Python and Pygame on your own Windows computer, don't worry. It is very easy.
- Run the Python installer downloaded from:
http://ProgramArcadeGames.com/python-3.3.1.msi - Run the Pygame installer downloaded from:
http://ProgramArcadeGames.com/pygame-1.9.2a0.win32-py3.3.msi
Once everything has been installed, start Python up by selecting the Integrated Development
Environment (IDLE) as shown in Figure 0.4
The original files provided here come from the Python download page at:
http://www.python.org/download/
...and the Pygame file originally comes from:
https://bitbucket.org/pygame/pygame/downloads
0.2.2 Mac Installation
Python and Pygame run on the Mac. I've never created a tutorial on it. Given the headaches that former students have gone through to get Pygame to work on the Mac, I recommend running Python/Pygame under Windows emulation instead.
0.2.3 Unix Installation
Unix distributions may come with a Pygame package, or the ability to easily get one. If you want to compile from source, this is what I've used on Linux Mint:
# Load required packages sudo apt-get install mercurial libsdl1.2-dev libsmpeg-dev sudo apt-get install libasound2-doc libglib2.0-doc python-dev sudo apt-get install libsdl-ttf2.0-dev libsdl-image1.2-dev sudo apt-get install libsdl-mixer1.2-dev libportmidi-dev sudo apt-get install libavformat-dev libswscale-dev # Use mercurial to clone current code hg clone https://bitbucket.org/pygame/pygame # Build and install cd pygame sudo python setup.py
0.2.4 Optional Wing IDE
The biggest risk on UNIX platforms is that your default Python version might be in the 2.x series, and that code won't work with the code examples here in the book. Make sure you have and are using Python 3.3.x.
While not necessary, I also highly recommend installing and using
“Wing IDE 101” at:
http://wingware.com/downloads/wingide-101/
The Wing IDE is a free version of a commercial development environment for Python.
For this class, there is no need for all the bells-and-whistles the commercial
version comes with, but they are nice. You will see that I often used this
editor while recording the videos.
0.3 Viewing File Extensions
It is a great idea to change your windows configuration to show file extensions. A file usually has the a name like Book report.docx where the .docx tells the computer it is a Microsoft Word compatible document. By default Windows hides the .docx extension if there is a program installed to handle it. If you are programming, this hiding part of the file name can be annoying.
For Windows 7, to show file extensions, open up your computer's control panel. Find the selection for “Folder Options.” Click the “View” tab, and then unselect the option for “Hide extensions for known file types.”
For Windows 8, bring up a file explorer by hitting the Winodws-E key. Then click the “view” tab and make sure “File name extensions” has been checked.
You are not logged in. Log in here and track your progress.
English version by Paul Vincent Craven
Russian version by Vladimir Slav
Turkish version by Güray Yildirim