How to use sprites in Arcade to develop games

Many games use sprites to represent player characters or enemies. Join TipsMake to learn how Python's Arcade library makes it simple to use sprites for game development!

How to use sprites in Arcade to develop games Picture 1

Python's Arcade library provides an intuitive and seamless way to incorporate sprites into your game development projects. Sprites are the essential elements that bring visual appeal, interactivity, and dynamic movement to your game.

With Arcade's powerful features and simple syntax, adding sprites is easy. This library allows you to quickly improve the game with attractive objects and characters.

Create a simple game

Before you start, make sure you have pip installed on your device. Use this command to install the arcade library:

pip install arcade

Start from creating simple games using Python's Arcade library. In this game, the player can move left and right.

Create class MyGame that inherits from arcade.Window. Then define a setup method to initialize the variable and on_draw to draw the game object. The on_key_press method allows the player to move the blue rectangle left or right.

Here is the code for your base game:

import arcade SCREEN_WIDTH = 640 SCREEN_HEIGHT = 480 class MyGame(arcade.Window): def __init__(self, width, height): super().__init__(width, height) arcade.set_background_color(arcade.color.WHITE) def setup(self): self.player_x = 320 def on_draw(self): arcade.start_render() arcade.draw_rectangle_filled(self.player_x, 50, 50, 50, arcade.color.BLUE) def on_key_press(self, key, modifiers): if key == arcade.key.LEFT: self.player_x -= 10 elif key == arcade.key.RIGHT: self.player_x += 10 def main(): game = MyGame(SCREEN_WIDTH, SCREEN_HEIGHT) game.setup() arcade.run() if __name__ == "__main__": main()

How to add sprites to the game

Now that you have a simple game up and running, it's time to enhance it by adding some sprites. You can create sprites with the arcade.Sprite class . You can download images to represent sprites and use them in the game.

Download an image file named player.png to create a player sprite. Set the sprite's initial position to the center of the screen. In the on_draw method , draw the player sprite using the draw function.

class MyGame(arcade.Window): def __init__(self, width, height): super().__init__(width, height) arcade.set_background_color(arcade.color.WHITE) self.player_sprite = None def setup(self): self.player_sprite = arcade.Sprite("player.png") self.player_sprite.center_x = SCREEN_WIDTH // 2 self.player_sprite.center_y = SCREEN_HEIGHT // 2 def on_draw(self): arcade.start_render() self.player_sprite.draw() def on_key_press(self, key, modifiers): if key == arcade.key.LEFT: self.player_sprite.change_x = -5 elif key == arcade.key.RIGHT: self.player_sprite.change_x = 5 def update(self, delta_time): self.player_sprite.update()

Add characteristics to sprite

Sprite in Arcade offers many other features, in addition to basic movements. For example, you can resize a sprite by setting the scale property.

You can set the scale property of the player sprite to 0.5, to make it half its original size.

class MyGame(arcade.Window): def setup(self): self.player_sprite = arcade.Sprite("player.png", scale=0.5)

Control sprite motion

Sprite in Arcade offers different ways to control player movements. Besides the change_x property , you can use change_y to control vertical movement. For more complex motion types, you can also use the change_angle property to rotate the sprite.

self.player_sprite.change_angle = ROTATION_SPEED

By combining these properties with the keyboard or mouse, you can create fluid and responsive motion controls for sprites in the game.

Add collision detection with sprite

Collision detection is important in many games. With Arcade, you can easily detect collisions between sprites using the arcade.check_for_collision function . Let's edit this code to include collision detection between the player sprite and another sprite named obstacle.png :

class MyGame(arcade.Window): def __init__(self, width, height): super().__init__(width, height) arcade.set_background_color(arcade.color.WHITE) self.player_sprite = None def setup(self): self.player_sprite = arcade.Sprite("player.png", scale=0.1) self.obstacle_sprite = arcade.Sprite("obstacle.png", scale = 0.1) self.obstacle_sprite.center_x = SCREEN_WIDTH self.obstacle_sprite.center_y = SCREEN_HEIGHT // 2 self.player_sprite.center_x = SCREEN_WIDTH // 2 self.player_sprite.center_y = SCREEN_HEIGHT // 2 def on_draw(self): arcade.start_render() self.player_sprite.draw() self.obstacle_sprite.draw() def on_key_press(self, key, modifiers): if key == arcade.key.LEFT: self.player_sprite.change_x = -5 elif key == arcade.key.RIGHT: self.player_sprite.change_x = 5 def update(self, delta_time): self.player_sprite.update() self.obstacle_sprite.update() if arcade.check_for_collision(self.player_sprite, self.obstacle_sprite): print("Collision detected!")

Sprite makes the characters, objects, and animations in the game look realistic and interesting. They can move, interact with other elements in the game in many ways, so it brings a more interesting and vivid feeling to the player.

Hope the article is useful to you!

Jessica Tanner

Update 27 June 2023