Making Games with Python & Pygame Paperback – January 1, 2012

You know. I really enjoy this book. Al writes a great book; it is an enjoyable read. This prompted me to buy his other book - Invent your Own Computer Games with Python. Buy them both - you won't be disappointed. The quality of the book (Paper, cover, typeset) is very readable and high-quality for a computer book, which makes it a good library addition. Also, you can get the digital edition free, and lots of code/etc from website - so very good value.Al presents python and pygame concepts in context of re-creating several typical games - like tetris, memory, othello, wormy, etc. Overall excellent pygame book. Pairs well with the rasperry pi computer... hint hint, nudge nudge. ( The games featured in this book are installed on raspberry pi stock image.. )Honestly it's more fun than slogging through the pygame website, and example code. Pygame and this book allow you to quickly put together some pretty 'low tech' fun and easy games.Technically:The book quickly introduces you to core display concepts like surfaces, drawing shapes, colors, blitting graphics, and playing sounds. Then it guides you through 'event handling' concepts over the course of several games. You will be up and running quickly making your own games with sound/graphics/event handling.So, really a good intro / even intermediate intro / to pygame, which perhaps doesn't touch on pygame's more advanced topics very deeply. Focuses well on game design concepts, but doesn't get extremely deep into every bell and whistle of pygame, which to me was a good thing, and kept the book understandable and concise. It is not a 'reference' type book, and advanced pygame topics were not included.

This book is good choice if you are beginner in programming. This book will teach with examples syntax of python and programming skills will sure come better.

This series is a bunch of programs that the kids type in and explanations of how the programs work. It's a great jumping off point to messing around -- you start with something that works and change it up to do other things that are more interesting to you. It really doesn't teach computer science at all, the way we grown-ups understand it, but my daughter loves this approach and she's got time to learn the other stuff later. There's a lot to be learned just by the messing around that this book encourages.

I am a student in software development, and programming games is all I've wanted to do since the moment I choose this career path. This book helped me get a feel for pygame(the python game library) and was very helpful. I don't suggest buying this book however, because it's completely free at his website. I wish I would have known that, but having the book made it easier to study when I wasn't around my laptop. Awesome book though!

Very good! Well written and explained, and with lots of examples. Worth it!

When I was a kid, I'd get these magazines every month full of code. You had to type it into your Apple or Commodore. It may or may not run. I looked forward every month to doing this. I have to say this is the first time in 30 years I had that same feeling.I ignored PyGame for several years because the website has so poorly laid out. I got bored one weekend and decided to give it a whirl recently. I bought this book to give back to the project and I'm glad I did.While this book won't make you a superstar video game programmer, it may help you build a solid foundation of the underlying code structure required. I had several eureka moments while typing in the examples. I'm a better programmer since reading this book. I wish I would have given PyGame a shot a few years ago.

If you want to learn Pygame, do NOT buy this book. It is not a good instructional book as you go from zero to 100 in no time; except, in a bad way. For example, first chapter is about installing Python and Pygame; second chapter is about basics; third chapter to the last, the author blasts the reader with full blown complex game programs. Unless the first two chapters provided all the basics, I am not sure how a student is supposed to grasp the large blocks of code. In one of the chapter, the author professes against "magic numbers"; they are bad; no one knows where they come from or mean. Well, the way the author teaches Pygame is no different; without explaining mouse events or the types of events, all of a sudden, we start seeing these concepts out of no where. Granted, the author breaks the huge program down into chunks and explains them later in the chapter; but by then, the reader has lost a sense of progression and direction. I would not recommend this book to teach. Unless you are a seasoned coder and proficient in Python, skip it, as you will find the structure and teaching approach daunting. I have never seen a coding book present teaching material like this one before. First time for everything. To the author, get a clue from Charles Petzold on writing books to teach something.

Al Sweigart is a genius and I love everything he stands for. This book is so easy to read and understand and he breaks it down even further to explain every line of coding in the book. If you don't understand coding after reading his work, you just won't ever understand.