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
pygamelibrary 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!
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