🎮 Python Game Development

Three courses that take you from your first game loop to GPU shaders and online multiplayer, all in Python with pygame-ce.

Choose your course

Course 1 of 3

Python Game Development I: Intro to Game Dev with pygame-ce

Build, polish and share your first 2D games.

Who it is for: You finished an intro Python course (variables, loops, functions, lists, dictionaries) and want to make games. No classes needed yet: this course introduces them in the Vectors lesson, when your game objects first need them.

7 modules · 14 lessons
21 contact hours (7 × 3 h sessions)
Prerequisites: Introduction to Programming with Python (or equivalent)
Install: pip install pygame-ce

Start Game Dev I: Intro Syllabus

Course 2 of 3

Python Game Development II: Intermediate Game Dev

Physics, tile worlds, AI, juice and shipping.

Who it is for: You finished Game Dev I (or can already build a small pygame-ce game with sprites, collisions and sound).

14 modules · 27 lessons
42 contact hours (14 × 3 h sessions)
Prerequisites: Python Game Development I: Intro, Introduction to Programming with Python
Install: pip install pygame-ce

Start Game Dev II: Intermediate Syllabus

Course 3 of 3

Python Game Development III: Advanced Game Dev

Engine architecture, GPU rendering, AI and multiplayer.

Who it is for: You finished Game Dev II and Intermediate Python (dataclasses, ABCs, typing, file I/O).

14 modules · 27 lessons
42 contact hours (14 × 3 h sessions)
Prerequisites: Python Game Development II: Intermediate, Intermediate Python
Install: pip install pygame-ce moderngl numpy pymunk

Start Game Dev III: Advanced Syllabus

How the courses fit together

Learn Python first. Introduction to Programming with Python covers everything Game Dev I expects: variables, loops, functions, lists, dictionaries and files.
Game Dev I: Intro teaches the game loop, input, vectors, sprites, collisions, sound and animation, and ends with a capstone game you share on the web.
Game Dev II: Intermediate adds physics, scenes and saves, tile-based platformers, procedural terrain, UI, NPC AI, juice, genre studies and shipping executables. New Python features appear as short sidebars where they are first needed.
Game Dev III: Advanced assumes Intermediate Python as well, and covers engine architecture, performance, advanced AI, procedural worlds, physics engines, moderngl rendering and networked multiplayer.

Every module is a three-hour session with a lab you can finish at home. Each course can be taught in a classroom or followed on your own.

What you need

A Windows, macOS or Linux computer with Python 3.10 or newer
pip install pygame-ce (the community edition of pygame, used throughout)
For Game Dev III: pip install moderngl numpy pymunk as well
A code editor such as VS Code