Pygame Zero : Pac Man tutorial

In this tutorial we’ll use Pygame Zero to create a Pac Man clone. As well as learning about sprites and game logic we’ll use files to store each level, which means you’ll get to design your own levels, and you’ll learn how to read files in Python.

If you’ve not yet set up Pygame Zero and the editor Mu, head over to the Flappy Bird Tutorial and follow the instructions there: https://tinyurl.com/y37qxb5h

If you’re new to Python programming then that Flappy Bird tutorial is probably better place to start – this tutorial is significantly harder.

Installing Assets

Download the tutorial assets by clicking this link. You can close that page once the download finishes. Click on the Images button in the Mu editor. This will open the directory where Pygame Zero looks for images. Copy the images from the images.zip file you just downloaded into this directory.

Start the Tutorial

Click on the Part 1 link below to get started.

Contents:

• Part 1
  • Getting Started
  • Making a game world
  • Drawing the world
  • What size is the world?
  • Adding the Pac-Man
  • Adding ghosts
  • Next up…
• Part 2
  • Making ghost sprites
  • Moving the ghosts
  • Don’t move through walls
  • Wrapping around
  • Keep on moving
  • Next up…
• Part 3
  • Food for Pac-Man
  • Rotate Pac-Man when moving around
  • What happens when Pac-Man hits a ghost?
  • Next Level
  • Enjoy your game
  • Next up…
• Part 4
  • Tell the user what’s happening
  • Periodic functions
  • Score and Lives
  • Power-ups
  • Run ghosts, run!
  • Flashing ghosts

Get in touch

We would love to hear how you’ve got on with this tutorial or receive any other feedback. Get in touch with the author: Eric Clack <eric@bn7.net>

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Copyright © 2021, Eric Clack

Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence v4.0