A New Record

Part of the Game Rules section of Coddy's Pygame journey. Lesson 22 of 29.

Beating your best is the moment to celebrate. The game should say so on the game over screen, and only when it happened.

The order of two lines decides it. Compare the score with the old best first, then update the best:

new_record = score > best
best = max(best, score)

Swap them and best already holds the score when you compare, so score > best is never true.

score > best is a comparison, so new_record holds True or False. The game over screen tests it:

if new_record:
    record = font.render("New record!", True, (255, 220, 90))
    screen.blit(record, record.get_rect(center=(240, 110)))

A score equal to the best is not a record, which is why the test is > and not >=.

Challenge

Medium

When the game ends, set new_record = score > best before updating best.
On the game over screen, when new_record is true, show New record! in (255, 220, 90) centred at (240, 110).

Try it yourself

import random
import pygame

pygame.init()
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((480, 360))
pygame.display.set_caption("Meteor Dodge")
clock = pygame.time.Clock()
heart = pygame.image.load("assets/images/heart.png").convert_alpha()
heart_empty = pygame.image.load("assets/images/heart_empty.png").convert_alpha()
font = pygame.font.Font("assets/fonts/pixel.ttf", 24)
big_font = pygame.font.Font("assets/fonts/pixel.ttf", 48)
WHITE = (240, 240, 240)
PLATE = (60, 60, 90)
POINT = pygame.USEREVENT + 1
SPAWN = pygame.USEREVENT + 2


def reset():
    global player, rocks, score, lives
    player = pygame.Rect(220, 300, 40, 40)
    rocks = []
    score = 0
    lives = 3
    pygame.time.set_timer(POINT, 1000)
    pygame.time.set_timer(SPAWN, 800)


def load_best():
    try:
        with open("highscore.txt") as file:
            return int(file.read())
    except FileNotFoundError:
        return 0


def draw_menu():
    screen.fill((30, 30, 46))
    title = big_font.render("Meteor Dodge", True, WHITE)
    title_rect = title.get_rect(center=(240, 140))
    pygame.draw.rect(screen, PLATE, title_rect.inflate(24, 12))
    screen.blit(title, title_rect)
    hint = font.render("Press Enter to play", True, WHITE)
    screen.blit(hint, hint.get_rect(center=(240, 200)))


def draw_game():
    screen.fill((30, 30, 46))
    pygame.draw.rect(screen, (255, 196, 0), player)
    for rock in rocks:
        pygame.draw.rect(screen, (235, 80, 80), rock)
    score_text = font.render(f"{score:05}", True, WHITE)
    score_rect = score_text.get_rect(topright=(470, 10))
    pygame.draw.rect(screen, PLATE, score_rect.inflate(12, 8))
    screen.blit(score_text, score_rect)
    for i in range(3):
        if i < lives:
            screen.blit(heart, (10 + i * 40, 10))
        else:
            screen.blit(heart_empty, (10 + i * 40, 10))


def play_frame():
    global rocks, lives, state, best
    keys = pygame.key.get_pressed()
    if keys[pygame.K_LEFT]:
        player.x -= 6
    if keys[pygame.K_RIGHT]:
        player.x += 6
    player.clamp_ip(screen.get_rect())

    kept = []
    for rock in rocks:
        rock.y += 3
        if rock.colliderect(player):
            lives -= 1
        elif rock.top <= 360:
            kept.append(rock)
    rocks = kept
    if lives <= 0:
        state = "over"
        best = max(best, score)
        with open("highscore.txt", "w") as file:
            file.write(str(best))
    draw_game()


def draw_over():
    draw_game()
    message = big_font.render("Game over", True, WHITE)
    screen.blit(message, message.get_rect(center=(240, 160)))
    hint = font.render("Press R to play again", True, WHITE)
    screen.blit(hint, hint.get_rect(center=(240, 200)))
    best_text = font.render(f"Best: {best}", True, WHITE)
    screen.blit(best_text, best_text.get_rect(center=(240, 240)))


reset()
state = "menu"
best = load_best()

running = True
while running:
    for event in pygame.event.get():
        if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
            running = False
        if event.type == POINT and state == "play":
            score += 1
        if event.type == SPAWN and state == "play":
            rocks.append(pygame.Rect(random.randint(0, 456), -24, 24, 24))
        if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN:
            if event.key == pygame.K_RETURN and state == "menu":
                reset()
                state = "play"
            elif event.key == pygame.K_r and state == "over":
                reset()
                state = "play"

    if state == "menu":
        draw_menu()
    elif state == "play":
        play_frame()
    else:
        draw_over()
    pygame.display.flip()
    clock.tick(60)

pygame.quit()