Simple Python Airplane Shooting Game Tutorial with Full Source Code

Python is an easy language to learn, and after a quick start you can build many things such as web crawlers, data analysis, automation, machine learning, and even games. This article presents a fun 200‑line airplane shooting game that serves as a practical example for learning Python classes and modules.

The game consists of three main parts: the player aircraft, enemy aircraft, and the overall game logic. The player class handles image loading, movement, shooting, and collision detection, while the enemy class manages random spawning and simple downward motion.

# Player class
class Player(pygame.sprite.Sprite):
    def __init__(self, plane_img, player_rect, init_pos):
        pygame.sprite.Sprite.__init__(self)
        self.image = []  # store player sprite images
        for i in range(len(player_rect)):
            self.image.append(plane_img.subsurface(player_rect[i]).convert_alpha())
        self.rect = player_rect[0]
        self.rect.topleft = init_pos
        self.speed = 8
        self.bullets = pygame.sprite.Group()
        self.img_index = 0
        self.is_hit = False

    def shoot(self, bullet_img):
        bullet = Bullet(bullet_img, self.rect.midtop)
        self.bullets.add(bullet)

    def moveUp(self):
        if self.rect.top <= 0:
            self.rect.top = 0
        else:
            self.rect.top -= self.speed

    def moveDown(self):
        if self.rect.top >= SCREEN_HEIGHT - self.rect.height:
            self.rect.top = SCREEN_HEIGHT - self.rect.height
        else:
            self.rect.top += self.speed

    def moveLeft(self):
        if self.rect.left <= 0:
            self.rect.left = 0
        else:
            self.rect.left -= self.speed

    def moveRight(self):
        if self.rect.left >= SCREEN_WIDTH - self.rect.width:
            self.rect.left = SCREEN_WIDTH - self.rect.width
        else:
            self.rect.left += self.speed

The initialization part sets up the pygame environment, loads sounds, background images, and the sprite sheet for the aircraft:

# Initialize game
pygame.init()
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((SCREEN_WIDTH, SCREEN_HEIGHT))
pygame.display.set_caption('飞机大战')

# Load sounds
bullet_sound = pygame.mixer.Sound('resources/sound/bullet.wav')
enemy1_down_sound = pygame.mixer.Sound('resources/sound/enemy1_down.wav')
game_over_sound = pygame.mixer.Sound('resources/sound/game_over.wav')
bullet_sound.set_volume(0.3)
enemy1_down_sound.set_volume(0.3)
game_over_sound.set_volume(0.3)
pygame.mixer.music.load('resources/sound/game_music.wav')
pygame.mixer.music.play(-1, 0.0)
pygame.mixer.music.set_volume(0.25)

# Load background
background = pygame.image.load('resources/image/background.png').convert()
game_over = pygame.image.load('resources/image/gameover.png')

filename = 'resources/image/shoot.png'
plane_img = pygame.image.load(filename)

The main game loop runs at 60 FPS, handles bullet firing, enemy spawning, movement, collision detection, drawing, and score calculation. The logic is kept simple so readers can follow each step:

while running:
    clock.tick(60)  # limit to 60 FPS

    # Fire bullets
    if not player.is_hit:
        if shoot_frequency % 15 == 0:
            bullet_sound.play()
            player.shoot(bullet_img)
        shoot_frequency = (shoot_frequency + 1) % 15

    # Spawn enemies
    if enemy_frequency % 50 == 0:
        enemy1_pos = [random.randint(0, SCREEN_WIDTH - enemy1_rect.width), 0]
        enemy1 = Enemy(enemy1_img, enemy1_down_imgs, enemy1_pos)
        enemies1.add(enemy1)
    enemy_frequency = (enemy_frequency + 1) % 100

    # Update bullets
    for bullet in player.bullets:
        bullet.move()
        if bullet.rect.bottom < 0:
            player.bullets.remove(bullet)

    # Update enemies and check collisions
    for enemy in enemies1:
        enemy.move()
        if pygame.sprite.collide_circle(enemy, player):
            enemies_down.add(enemy)
            enemies1.remove(enemy)
            player.is_hit = True
            game_over_sound.play()
            break
        if enemy.rect.top > SCREEN_HEIGHT:
            enemies1.remove(enemy)

    # Collision between bullets and enemies
    enemies1_down = pygame.sprite.groupcollide(enemies1, player.bullets, 1, 1)
    for enemy_down in enemies1_down:
        enemies_down.add(enemy_down)

    # Draw everything
    screen.fill(0)
    screen.blit(background, (0, 0))
    if not player.is_hit:
        screen.blit(player.image[player.img_index], player.rect)
        player.img_index = shoot_frequency // 8
    else:
        player.img_index = player_down_index // 8
        screen.blit(player.image[player.img_index], player.rect)
        player_down_index += 1
        if player_down_index > 47:
            running = False
    for enemy_down in enemies_down:
        if enemy_down.down_index == 0:
            enemy1_down_sound.play()
        if enemy_down.down_index > 7:
            enemies_down.remove(enemy_down)
            score += 1000
            continue
        screen.blit(enemy_down.down_imgs[enemy_down.down_index // 2], enemy_down.rect)
        enemy_down.down_index += 1
    player.bullets.draw(screen)
    enemies1.draw(screen)

The article concludes that the source code is short and clear, making it an excellent learning resource for beginners to understand Python OOP, pygame usage, and game development basics, and encourages readers to experiment by adding new features.