Exploring Game Mechanics with Python by Example

Name: Exploring Game Mechanics with Python by Example
Rating: 4.5 (298 reviews)

Learn about Game Mechanics and Python Programming (with Pygame) Together with these Fun Retro Game Remakes

Created byPenny de Byl, Penny Holistic3D

Last updated 5/2022

English

What you'll learn

Discuss the game mechanics best suited to human cognitive abilities.
Demonstrate the programming of game mechanics.
Use Python and Pygame to create a 2D game.
Setup a Python and Pycharm Integrated Development Environment and import packages.

Course content

7 sections • 63 lectures • 8h 9m total length

Welcome2:05
In this lecture Penny will welcome students to the course and give an overview of the content.
Join the H3D Student Community1:26
H3D has a bustling online student community. Here's how to get involved.
Contacting H3D0:01
How to contact us
FAQs0:14
Description: Important Reading on Common Issues students have and how to ask for help.
Game Mechanics 10112:53
In this lecture students will learn about some differing types of game mechanics and how they are used in games to create gameplay.

Installing Python and Pycharm4:13
In this lecture students will learn how to download and install Python and Pycharm.
Hello Pygame11:32
The Main Game Loop7:04
In this lecture students will learn how to construct a simple main game loop to keep the graphics window open until the player clicks on quit.
Displaying a Sprite9:35
In this lecture students will learn how to display an align a sprite inside a window.
Resizing a Sprite7:34
In this lecture students will learn how to resize a sprite and also dynamically adjust the position of it on the screen.
Moving A Sprite with the Keyboard7:18
In this lecture students will learn how to move a sprite around on the screen with the arrow keys.
Frames7:42
In this lecture students will learn how to control the frames per second a loop runs at as well as how to clear a frame of previous drawings.
Restricting Movement4:57
In this lecture students will learn how to restrict the movement of a sprite by calculating where the sprite will hit the edge of the screen.
Monitoring Mouse Motion3:41
In this lecture students will learn how to use the mouse to move sprites around on the screen.
Let's Make a Button Part 110:19
In this lecture students will learn how to draw a rectangle on the screen to use as a button.
Let's Make a Button Part 211:08
In this lecture students will learn to position text on the button and program it to quit the window when clicked on.
Let's Make a Button Part 34:09
In this lecture students will learn how to program the button to change colours on a mouse over.

Loading Resources7:58
In this lecture students will begin setting up the window and resources for a brick breaking game.
Placing Bricks9:01
In this lecture students will learn how to dynamically place bricks into a grid based on the window size.
Moving the Bat4:31
In this lecture students will be challenged to integrate previously acquired knowledge to move the bat back and forth across with screen with the arrow keys.
Adding the Ball10:08
In this lecture students will add a ball to the game that bounces off the edges of the screen.
Batting the Ball9:33
In this lecture students will learn how to determine when the ball collides with the bat and get the ball to change direction.
Breaking Bricks9:25
In this lecture students will learn how to determine when the ball hits a brick, how to remove the brick from the screen and how to make the ball change direction when it hits a brick.

Project Setup and Base Grid14:34
In this lecture students will setup the basic window and a grid for a game of Tetris and learn how to draw rectangles with borders and create functions in python.
Defining the Block Shapes7:58
In this lecture students will learn how to create and store the data for different block types.
Displaying a Block Shape10:42
In this lecture students will learn how to display a block over the top of the grid and align it with the grid size.
Dropping Blocks6:35
In this lecture students will learn how to make a block drop down the grid and how to stop it when it hits the bottom.
Moving Blocks Sideways7:06
In this lecture students will learn how to move the block from side to side and restrict it's movement when it reaches the side of the screen.
Creating a Game Board10:36
In this lecture students will learn how to create a game board to store all the blocks as they hit the bottom of the screen.
Spawning New Blocks7:00
In this lecture students will learn how to use the python random library to set random starting positions for blocks as well as block types.
Rotating Blocks11:15
In this lecture students will learn how to rotate a shape as well as test if the shape can be rotated without going off the grid.
Testing for Block Collision11:02
In this lecture students will learn how to test for a wide range of block collisions in the one function and then integrate it with the rest of the code.
Changing Block Colours6:43
In this lecture students will learn how to give the blocks random colours.
Eliminating Whole Lines8:05
In this lecture students will learn how to remove any lines that contain all blocks and keep score.
Displaying a Score3:30
In this lecture students will learn how to display a score on the screen using fonts and text.
Game Over7:58
In this lecture students will add game over text to the screen when the grid fills up with blocks.

Window, Background and Ship8:58
In this lecture students will begin a new asteroid game project and put together the basic elements of the window and display a ship and asteroid.
Moving the Ship14:50
In this lecture students will learn how to program the space ship player character to move about on the screen.
Moving Asteroids9:47
In this lecture students will learn how to move the asteroids and rebound them from the edges of the screen.
Shooting Bullets8:34
In this lecture students will learn how to create a bullet class and link it to the rotation of the ship so the bullets emanate from the ship and travel in the direction the ship is facing.
Shoot Clamping5:04
In this lecture students will learn how to create a timed cool down period that can stop the player taking actions.
Ship Drift5:24
In this lecture students will learn how to add momentum to the movement of the ship so that it continues to drift across the screen even when the player isn't moving it.
Screen Wrapping8:16
In this lecture students will learn how to wrap the position of the ship and asteroid around the edges of the screen so that an object going off one side appears back on the opposite side.
Asteroid and Bullet Collisions10:38
In this lecture students will learn how to determine when a bullet hits an asteroid by writing a simple collision detection function.
Asteroid and Ship Collisions3:56
In this lecture students will learn how to destroy the ship when it hits an asteroid.
Sound Effects4:44
In this lecture students will learn how to add sound effects into their game.
Game Over9:27
In this lecture students will learn how to setup messages for the winning and losing conditions.
Splitting Asteroids5:32
In this lecture students will learn how to split the asteroids into smaller parts when they are hit by a bullet.

Project Setup and Class Structure12:50
In this lecture students will learn how to make modules in python and link them up to call functions between them.
Switching Between Scenes9:37
In this lecture students will learn how to make a scene that is being shown on the screen something that is passed to a main scene generating class.
The GamePlay Scene14:58
In this lecture students will create the basic game play scene with a back button that will return them to the main menu.
The Player Character7:10
In this lecture students will construct the class to contain the player character and program it to move the player icon left and right across the screen.
The Alien Characters8:01
In this lecture students will add the first alien character to the screen from the sprite sheet.
A Grid of Aliens7:07
In this lecture students will learn how to place a grid of aliens on the screen and offset the grid from the top left hand corner.
Moving the Grid of Aliens9:03
In this lecture students will learn how to move the grid of aliens back and forth across the screen and move them down each time and edge is reached.
Animating Sprites3:37
In this lecture students will learn how to change the frame being drawn for a sprite in order to animated it.
Shooting At Aliens8:22
In this lecture students will be challenged to add the bullets so the player can shoot at the aliens.
Destroying Aliens8:26
In this lecture students will learn how to use a sprite collider to determine when bullets hit the aliens.
Sprite Explosions11:20
In this lecture students will learn how to add an animated sprite sheet to their game to show an explosions when alien's are destroyed.
Aliens Attack14:08
In this lecture students will learn how to add extra bullets for the aliens to shoot and how to keep track of the number of lives a player has left.
Game Over8:53
In this lecture students will learn how to determine the game over scenarios and reset the game for new game play.

Requirements

It will be expected that you have a working knowledge of coding (any language)

Description

What makes games fun? Game mechanics! What makes learning a new programming language fun? Creating games with it! This course allows you to do both. If you've ever wanted to take your programming skills further and get into Python, then this is your opportunity. If you already know Python but want to know how to use it to create games, then this course is also for you.

Designed for INTERMEDIATE level students with a working knowledge of programming, the content in this course will take you step-by-step through the setup of a Python/Pygame development environment on your own computer and take you through a series of workshops designed to help you learn Python and Pygame while recreating some fun retro computer games including Breakout, Tetris, Asteroids, and Space Invaders.

You will learn about:

The Pycharm Development Environment.
The Pygame API, which is an interface for OpenGL and DirectX.
The use of screen coordinates to place, size, move, animate, and restrict game characters.
Constructing a main game loop.
Working with Static and Animated Sprites.
Sprite Collision Detection.

What people are saying about Penny's courses:

Dr. Penny is a wonderful person and a true expert. All of her courses I've taken have been top notch and in my opinion there is no better teacher out there.
Allow me to say how hugely important this is for a person who is interested in certain types of game design. Creating games where you can create AI behaviors that support emergent situations.
I honestly love Holistic's teaching approach and I've never learned so much within a few hours about coding effectively with such detailed explanations!

This course focuses on providing students with hands-on experience coding game mechanics, while also providing an easy introduction to Python for the intermediate programmer.

Who this course is for:

Beginner Python developers curious about create games.
Game programmers keen to learn how to use Python to create games.

Exploring Game Mechanics with Python by Example

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction5 lectures • 17min

Getting Started12 lectures • 1hr 29min

Breakin' Bricks6 lectures • 51min

Tetris13 lectures • 1hr 53min

Asteroids12 lectures • 1hr 35min

Space Invaders13 lectures • 2hr 4min

Final Words2 lectures • 1min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: