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.