Sparks on Every Hit

Part of the Sound and Game Feel section of Coddy's Pygame journey. Lesson 21 of 23.

An enemy that blows up should feel like it. Start with sparks: a burst of particles where the enemy was.

Bursts happen in two places, a laser hit and a crash, so put the burst in a function:

def burst(center):
    for i in range(16):
        particles.append({"x": center[0], "y": center[1],
                          "vx": random.uniform(-4, 4), "vy": random.uniform(-4, 4),
                          "life": random.randint(15, 30)})

The function only makes the sparks. Moving them is every frame's job, as in the Particles chapter: move each one, lower its life and keep only the living ones.

Do that next to explosions.update(), outside if lives > 0 .... The crash that ends the game makes a burst too, and it should still fly out after Game over. Draw the sparks after the explosions, so they are on top.

Challenge

Medium

Before the loop, make particles = [].
Write burst(center): 16 particles at center, vx and vy from random.uniform(-4, 4), life from random.randint(15, 30).
Call burst(enemy.rect.center) where a laser destroys an enemy and where an enemy crashes into the ship.
Next to explosions.update(), move the particles, lower their life and remove the dead ones.
After the explosions, draw each particle as an orange (255, 170, 60) circle with radius life // 10 + 1.

Try it yourself

import random
import pygame

pygame.init()
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((640, 480))
pygame.display.set_caption("Star Patrol")
clock = pygame.time.Clock()
font = pygame.font.Font(None, 32)

ship_image = pygame.image.load("assets/images/ship.png").convert_alpha()
laser_image = pygame.image.load("assets/images/laser.png").convert_alpha()
red_image = pygame.image.load("assets/images/enemy_red.png").convert_alpha()
green_image = pygame.image.load("assets/images/enemy_green.png").convert_alpha()
yellow_image = pygame.image.load("assets/images/enemy_yellow.png").convert_alpha()
explosion_frames = []
for number in range(1, 5):
    explosion_frames.append(pygame.image.load(f"assets/images/explosion_{number}.png").convert_alpha())

laser_sound = pygame.mixer.Sound("assets/sounds/laser.ogg")
laser_sound.set_volume(0.4)
explosion_sound = pygame.mixer.Sound("assets/sounds/explosion.ogg")
hit_sound = pygame.mixer.Sound("assets/sounds/hit.ogg")

WAVES = [(red_image, 6, 2), (green_image, 8, 2), (yellow_image, 10, 3)]


class Player(pygame.sprite.Sprite):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.image = ship_image
        self.rect = self.image.get_rect(midbottom=(320, 470))
        self.mask = pygame.mask.from_surface(self.image)

    def update(self):
        keys = pygame.key.get_pressed()
        if keys[pygame.K_LEFT]:
            self.rect.x -= 6
        if keys[pygame.K_RIGHT]:
            self.rect.x += 6
        self.rect.clamp_ip(screen.get_rect())


class Laser(pygame.sprite.Sprite):
    def __init__(self, x, y):
        super().__init__()
        self.image = laser_image
        self.rect = self.image.get_rect(midbottom=(x, y))
        self.mask = pygame.mask.from_surface(self.image)

    def update(self):
        self.rect.y -= 10
        if self.rect.bottom < 0:
            self.kill()


class Enemy(pygame.sprite.Sprite):
    def __init__(self, image, x, y, speed):
        super().__init__()
        self.image = image
        self.rect = self.image.get_rect(center=(x, y))
        self.mask = pygame.mask.from_surface(self.image)
        self.speed = speed

    def update(self):
        self.rect.y += self.speed


class Explosion(pygame.sprite.Sprite):
    def __init__(self, center):
        super().__init__()
        self.index = 0
        self.timer = 0
        self.image = explosion_frames[0]
        self.rect = self.image.get_rect(center=center)

    def update(self):
        self.timer += 1
        if self.timer == 5:
            self.timer = 0
            self.index += 1
            if self.index == len(explosion_frames):
                self.kill()
            else:
                self.image = explosion_frames[self.index]


def play_music(path, loops=-1):
    pygame.mixer.music.load(path)
    pygame.mixer.music.play(loops)


def spawn_wave(image, count, speed):
    for i in range(count):
        x = random.randint(40, 600)
        enemies.add(Enemy(image, x, -40 - i * 120, speed))


player = Player()
lasers = pygame.sprite.Group()
enemies = pygame.sprite.Group()
explosions = pygame.sprite.Group()
last_shot = 0
score = 0
lives = 3
wave = 0
image, count, speed = WAVES[wave]
spawn_wave(image, count, speed)
pygame.mixer.music.set_volume(0.5)
play_music("assets/music/level.ogg")

running = True
while running:
    for event in pygame.event.get():
        if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
            running = False

    if lives > 0 and wave < len(WAVES):
        player.update()
        keys = pygame.key.get_pressed()
        now = pygame.time.get_ticks()
        if keys[pygame.K_SPACE] and now - last_shot >= 250:
            lasers.add(Laser(player.rect.centerx, player.rect.top))
            last_shot = now
            laser_sound.play()
        lasers.update()
        enemies.update()
        for enemy in enemies:
            if enemy.rect.top > 480:
                enemy.kill()
                lives -= 1
                hit_sound.play()
        hits = pygame.sprite.groupcollide(enemies, lasers, True, True, pygame.sprite.collide_mask)
        for enemy in hits:
            score += 10
            explosion_sound.play()
            explosions.add(Explosion(enemy.rect.center))
        crashes = pygame.sprite.spritecollide(player, enemies, True, pygame.sprite.collide_mask)
        for enemy in crashes:
            lives -= 1
            hit_sound.play()
            explosions.add(Explosion(enemy.rect.center))
        if not enemies:
            wave += 1
            if wave < len(WAVES):
                image, count, speed = WAVES[wave]
                spawn_wave(image, count, speed)
            else:
                play_music("assets/music/win.ogg", 0)
        if lives <= 0:
            play_music("assets/music/lose.ogg", 0)
    explosions.update()

    screen.fill((12, 14, 30))
    enemies.draw(screen)
    lasers.draw(screen)
    screen.blit(player.image, player.rect)
    explosions.draw(screen)
    score_text = font.render(f"Score: {score}", True, (240, 240, 240))
    screen.blit(score_text, (10, 10))
    lives_text = font.render(f"Lives: {max(lives, 0)}", True, (240, 240, 240))
    screen.blit(lives_text, lives_text.get_rect(topright=(630, 10)))
    if wave < len(WAVES):
        wave_text = font.render(f"Wave {wave + 1}", True, (240, 240, 240))
        screen.blit(wave_text, wave_text.get_rect(midtop=(320, 10)))
    if lives <= 0:
        message = font.render("Game over", True, (240, 240, 240))
        screen.blit(message, message.get_rect(center=(320, 240)))
    elif wave == len(WAVES):
        message = font.render("You win!", True, (240, 240, 240))
        screen.blit(message, message.get_rect(center=(320, 240)))
    pygame.display.flip()
    clock.tick(60)

pygame.quit()