Save the Record

Part of the Game Rules section of Coddy's Pygame journey. Lesson 20 of 29.

Close the game and best is gone: variables live only while the program runs. To keep a number for next time, write it to a file.

with open("highscore.txt", "w") as file:
    file.write(str(best))

open(..., "w") opens the file for writing. It makes the file if there is none, and empties it if there is, so the file always holds one number. write takes text, which is why str(best) turns the number into text first. The with block closes the file when it ends, so everything written is saved.

The file name has no folder, so the file is made in the folder the program runs from. On your computer, run main.py from its own folder and highscore.txt appears next to it and stays there.

In the browser the game's files live in the page's memory: Play again and the file is still there, but reloading the page starts with no file.

Challenge

Medium

When the game ends, after updating best, write it to highscore.txt.

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 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)
    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 = 0

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()