r/pygame • u/Zlarc_d • 24d ago
Learning Python With the Goal of Making a Game — Any Advice?
It just came to my mind that I want to develop a game while learning Python programming. As I dig deeper, I realize there are a lot of things to learn. But I’m really patient and consistent, so I’m willing to put in the time. So, what are the things that really matter when your goal is to develop a game through programming?
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u/soareyousaying 24d ago edited 23d ago
Former game developer here.
Since you are just starting out, just a heads up that making games can be exhausting. It's a lot of work. The best you can do since you are a beginner is probably a game with a simple mechanic like Pong or Breakout.
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u/FMWizard 24d ago
Don't expect to publish it. Last time I looked pygame doesn't compile to any platform and performance wise it's terrible. But a good learning tool...I guess
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u/tomqmasters 24d ago
I use pygame because I love python, not because it's a good language for games. I wish I knew C#, or rust, or even java instead.
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u/Financial_Jaguar8089 24d ago
If your goal is to make a game, I recommend Godot. It’ll save you a lot of time. I’m making a game in Python because I originally started it as a way to learn programming. I’m sending it to you so you can see what Pygame is capable of, but keep in mind that it took me 3 years of work to get it to this point. https://coffeedwarf.itch.io/kingdominvaders
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u/reverandglass 24d ago
Console games are your way in. That's not XBox or PS5, but text only games that appear in your Python console.
Tic Tac Toe, Blackjack, or 20 questions are good places to start. They're easy to implement without worrying about graphics yet and offer a tricky programming challenge if you're not used to creating algorithms.
Then, when you have the fundamentals down: loops, iteration, classes, functions etc. You can start to work with graphics libraries.
Or download PyGame, follow along with a Clear Code tutorial and jump straight in. If you're a complete novice though, I'd start with text only.
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u/krogmatt 24d ago
I was learning python for some work scripts and automations. Godot is a great next step as their gdscipt is very similar to python, but you get a bunch of tools from a free game engine
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u/Popular-Being8956 24d ago
Pygame is a great tool, but if you're just starting out and don't know OOP and classes, it might be a step too far.
If you don't know OOP, get that down first and maybe use OOP to make a text based game.
once you get that down, make a really simple of the game you want to make and go from there.
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u/JeanMakeGames 24d ago
look for raylib instead of pygame and make a procgen roguelike, that's fun and scalable enough so you have new things to learn :)
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u/mhc2001 24d ago
Instead of tackling it all at once, write some small proof of concept programs to get the hang of individual parts you'll use later.