It’s high time for the Programmers of Portables Meetup group’s first meeting. It’s called “Let’s write a game (with Python and Pygame)!”, and it’s happening online on Monday, February 22nd at 7:00 p.m.!
In this meetup, we’ll use the Python programming language and the Pygame collection of game development libraries to write a game similar to this “Super Bowl Streaker”-themed parody of the old videogame Tecmo Bowl:
That’s right, we’re going to build a game where the player controls the guy who ran onto the field in a pink leotard during the Super Bowl, and the goal of the game is to dodge security for as long as you can.
While writing the game, you’ll learn about key game programming concepts including the main event loop and collision detection, as well as everyday programming topics including object-oriented programming and data structures.
This is going to be a “code along with the instructor” exercise. I’ll explain a key concept for the game, and then we’ll code it together. By the end of the session, you’ll have a working game that you can play but even modify and improve on!
Register here to join us on Monday, February 22nd at 7:00 p.m., and let’s write a game!
What will you need for the Programmers of Portables Meetup?
Aside from a computer (which could run macOS, Windows, Linux, or Raspberry Pi OS) made sometime in the past ten or so years and an internet connection, you’ll need:
- Zoom (I’ll provide a link to the Meetup as the day gets closer)
- Python 3 (version 3.6 or later — I recommend Anaconda’s distribution, although the Python.org distribution is also good)
- Pygame (version 2.0; once you’ve installed Python 3, go to the command line and execute the command
pip install pygame==2.0.0) - You favorite code editor. I’ll be using Visual Studio Code.
All you need for this session is just some programming experience, and it doesn’t have to be in Python. If you can code a “Magic 8-Ball” in JavaScript, you’ll understand most of what we’ll cover when writing our game.