Creating a Checkers game in Python can be a rewarding project that introduces various concepts of game development, including graphical user interfaces (GUIs), game logic, and event handling.
For this guide, we'll use the pygame
library, which is a popular choice for developing games in Python due to its simplicity and powerful features.
How to Make a Checkers Game with Python
Prerequisites
- Python: Make sure you have Python installed on your machine. You can download it from python.org.
-
Pygame: Install the
pygame
library using pip:
pip install pygame
Setting Up the Project
Create a new directory for your Checkers game project and navigate into it:
mkdir checkers_game
cd checkers_game
Create a new Python file for the game logic:
touch main.py
Step 1: Importing Libraries
In your main.py
, start by importing the necessary libraries:
import pygame
import sys
from pygame.locals import *
Step 2: Initializing Pygame
Initialize pygame
and set up the main game window:
pygame.init()
# Constants
WIDTH, HEIGHT = 800, 800
ROWS, COLS = 8, 8
SQUARE_SIZE = WIDTH // COLS
# RGB Colors
RED = (255, 0, 0)
WHITE = (255, 255, 255)
BLACK = (0, 0, 0)
BLUE = (0, 0, 255)
GREY = (128, 128, 128)
# Create the game window
WIN = pygame.display.set_mode((WIDTH, HEIGHT))
pygame.display.set_caption('Checkers')
Step 3: Drawing the Board
Create a function to draw the checkerboard:
def draw_board(win):
win.fill(BLACK)
for row in range(ROWS):
for col in range(row % 2, COLS, 2):
pygame.draw.rect(win, RED, (row * SQUARE_SIZE, col * SQUARE_SIZE, SQUARE_SIZE, SQUARE_SIZE))
Step 4: Creating the Piece Class
Define a class to represent the game pieces:
class Piece:
PADDING = 15
OUTLINE = 2
def __init__(self, row, col, color):
self.row = row
self.col = col
self.color = color
self.king = False
if self.color == RED:
self.direction = -1
else:
self.direction = 1
self.x = 0
self.y = 0
self.calc_pos()
def calc_pos(self):
self.x = SQUARE_SIZE * self.col + SQUARE_SIZE // 2
self.y = SQUARE_SIZE * self.row + SQUARE_SIZE // 2
def make_king(self):
self.king = True
def draw(self, win):
radius = SQUARE_SIZE // 2 - self.PADDING
pygame.draw.circle(win, GREY, (self.x, self.y), radius + self.OUTLINE)
pygame.draw.circle(win, self.color, (self.x, self.y), radius)
if self.king:
crown = pygame.image.load('crown.png')
crown = pygame.transform.scale(crown, (44, 25))
win.blit(crown, (self.x - crown.get_width()//2, self.y - crown.get_height()//2))
def move(self, row, col):
self.row = row
self.col = col
self.calc_pos()
Step 5: Creating the Board Class
Define a class to represent the board and manage the pieces:
class Board:
def __init__(self):
self.board = []
self.red_left = self.white_left = 12
self.red_kings = self.white_kings = 0
self.create_board()
def draw_squares(self, win):
win.fill(BLACK)
for row in range(ROWS):
for col in range(row % 2, COLS, 2):
pygame.draw.rect(win, RED, (row * SQUARE_SIZE, col * SQUARE_SIZE, SQUARE_SIZE, SQUARE_SIZE))
def create_board(self):
for row in range(ROWS):
self.board.append([])
for col in range(COLS):
if col % 2 == ((row + 1) % 2):
if row < 3:
self.board[row].append(Piece(row, col, WHITE))
elif row > 4:
self.board[row].append(Piece(row, col, RED))
else:
self.board[row].append(0)
else:
self.board[row].append(0)
def draw(self, win):
self.draw_squares(win)
for row in range(ROWS):
for col in range(COLS):
piece = self.board[row][col]
if piece != 0:
piece.draw(win)
Step 6: Creating the Game Class
Define a class to manage the game state:
class Game:
def __init__(self, win):
self._init()
self.win = win
def update(self):
self.board.draw(self.win)
pygame.display.update()
def _init(self):
self.selected = None
self.board = Board()
self.turn = RED
self.valid_moves = {}
def reset(self):
self._init()
def select(self, row, col):
if self.selected:
result = self._move(row, col)
if not result:
self.selected = None
self.select(row, col)
piece = self.board.get_piece(row, col)
if piece != 0 and piece.color == self.turn:
self.selected = piece
self.valid_moves = self.board.get_valid_moves(piece)
return True
return False
def _move(self, row, col):
piece = self.board.get_piece(row, col)
if self.selected and (row, col) in self.valid_moves:
self.board.move(self.selected, row, col)
skipped = self.valid_moves[(row, col)]
if skipped:
self.board.remove(skipped)
self.change_turn()
else:
return False
return True
def change_turn(self):
self.valid_moves = {}
if self.turn == RED:
self.turn = WHITE
else:
self.turn = RED
Step 7: Main Game Loop
Add the main game loop to handle events and updates:
def main():
run = True
clock = pygame.time.Clock()
game = Game(WIN)
while run:
clock.tick(60)
for event in pygame.event.get():
if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
run = False
if event.type == pygame.MOUSEBUTTONDOWN:
pos = pygame.mouse.get_pos()
row, col = get_row_col_from_mouse(pos)
game.select(row, col)
game.update()
pygame.quit()
def get_row_col_from_mouse(pos):
x, y = pos
row = y // SQUARE_SIZE
col = x // SQUARE_SIZE
return row, col
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()
Conclusion
This guide outlines the basic structure of a Checkers game in Python using pygame
, here is an online demo of the game. You can further enhance this game by adding features such as enforcing rules for jumps, highlighting valid moves, and creating a user interface for start and end screens.
This project covers essential concepts in game development, such as:
- Handling user inputs and events.
- Drawing and updating the game board and pieces.
- Managing game state and transitions.
Feel free to expand on this guide by adding more advanced features and polishing the game mechanics. Happy coding!
Top comments (4)
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