Step 0: Create an empty game

In this step we’re going to create a game which does nothing, just to make sure we have everything ready to run.

At the end of Step 0 you will see: a blank window with a title bar saying “PyGame Zero Game” and the usual Minimize / Maximize / Close buttons. If you click the [X] button or press Ctrl-Q the window will close.

The Code


That’s it. You just need an empty file. That’s the simplest possible “game” you can build with PyGame Zero.

What’s happening here?

In fact, PyGame Zero is doing a lot of work on your behalf. If this were a “real” PyGame program, in order to get a window which did nothing and which closed when you pressed Ctrl+Q, you’d have to write a dozen lines of code. If you want to see what that would look like, look at the PyGame Zero section at the end.

That’s just to get the game to do nothing! Eventually you’ll need something which PyGame Zero doesn’t provide and which PyGame itself does and then you’ll start to write code directly in PyGame. PyGame Zero is deliberately limited.

Change it around

Although all you have is an empty screen with nothing moving on it, you can still change a few things. If you want to change the size of the game window, add the following lines to the top of your program:

WIDTH = 640
HEIGHT = 480

and if you want to give the game window a title, add this line:

TITLE = "Wall Ball"

Obviously you can choose your own size and your own title.