I made Games with Python for 10 Years...

I made videogames with Python and Pygame for 10 years, so I thought I'd share a recap of the journey along the way.
Wishlist Of Murder and Moonshine (Sponsored):
store.steampowered.com/app/26...
Wishlist Yawnoc (My Game):
store.steampowered.com/app/28...
Most of the games from this video can be found here (plus they're open source!):
dafluffypotato.itch.io/
My Discord:
/ discord
Support Me (basically the same perks):
/ dafluffypotato
/ @dafluffypotato
My Website (links to games):
dafluffypotato.com
Special thanks to my Potato Tier Patrons:
Agent Effe
Eivind Teig
f0ursqu4r3
Rethanon
Sam Cork
Szabolcs Dombi
tbf135
Toblobs
Timestamps:
00:00 - First Steps
01:49 - 2014
02:54 - 2015
04:11 - 2016
08:05 - 2017
10:32 - 2018
14:59 - 2019
17:25 - 2020
20:30 - 2021
22:14 - 2022
24:42 - 2023
28:21 - More to Come
People whose stuff ended up in the video:
/ managore
/ x_rxi
/ bklyndev1
/ @lilpa
#python #pygame #gamedev

[@beebstergames7348]

I have been a C systems coder for over 40 years. I'm retired now but I still code. I have listened to many of your videos and find your method of teaching as well as your coding approach inspiring. At the age of 71 I find a great deal of joy in your work, and I applaud you as one who 'goes his own way' in your coding technique. Thank you so much for pointing out the fact that Game Jams are an excellent way to forge a career in game programming. You have helped me make a decision of what framework to use and since I am a 'C' coder I have settled on SDL2 for coding up my games. Python looks very intriguing, but I don't think I could get past the fact that there are no braces to block off code segments. I suppose I could try one game to see how it goes. I wish you great success my young friend with the hopes that when you reach my age you are still coding games. God Bless You

[@xWatexx]

Can you, perhaps, please enlighten me on how the hell I’m supposed to communicate with USB devices? I can’t seem to figure it out. I’m programming in C on the bare metal.

[@turtlexhdc]

Try RayLib :) Has a more complete set of tools, than SDL2

[@FaithfulComforter]

@@xWatexx To communicate with USB devices when programming with C, you can use the USB library provided by the operating system or a third-party library. Here's a general outline of the steps involved in communicating with USB devices using C: 1. Include the necessary header files: Include the header files required for USB programming. These header files may vary depending on the operating system and the library you are using. 2. Initialize the USB library: Initialize the USB library to set up the necessary data structures and resources for USB communication. The initialization process may involve opening a USB device handle or obtaining a reference to the USB device. 3. Enumerate and select the target device: If you have multiple USB devices connected to your system, you need to enumerate the available devices and select the target device you want to communicate with. Typically, this involves iterating through the list of connected devices and identifying the device based on its vendor ID and product ID. 4. Open the USB device: Once you have identified the target device, open it to establish a connection. This step usually involves obtaining a device handle or a file descriptor that represents the USB device. 5. Configure the USB interface: USB devices can have multiple interfaces, and each interface may have multiple endpoints for data transfer. You need to configure the appropriate interface and endpoints for communication. This step may involve setting the interface and endpoint settings, such as transfer type, packet size, and direction (input or output). 6. Perform USB I/O operations: After the USB device is successfully opened and configured, you can perform read and write operations to exchange data with the device. You can use functions provided by the USB library to send control requests, bulk transfers, interrupt transfers, or isochronous transfers, depending on the specific requirements of your USB device. 7. Handle errors and cleanup: It's important to handle errors that may occur during USB communication. If any errors occur, you should gracefully handle them and release any allocated resources. When you are done communicating with the USB device, close the device handle or file descriptor and release any resources allocated by the USB library. Note that the specific details of USB programming in C can vary depending on the operating system and the library you are using. You may need to consult the documentation or reference materials provided by the operating system or the library to get more specific information on how to perform USB communication using C.

[@xWatexx]

@@FaithfulComforter very nice response from ChatGPT. However, I already went to it for advice and got the same answer. Problem is, I can’t use the OS-provided libraries without the OS. I need to make those libraries.

[@shazam314]

@@FaithfulComforter Thanks, ChatGPT.

[@Astral100]

The key take away from this is - you are lucky to have responsible parents that would only allow you to play 30 minutes a day. The root of all of your success is this.

[@TheInterestingInformer]

Fr bruh I can’t focus on anything for more than an hour 💀

[@youtubenightcrawler9571]

Imagine if they only let him play for 1 minute a day. He'd be god tier.

[@raging_demon3371]

also his love for video games helped him to learn how to code so he could make games

[@eugeniosabater8449]

I played like 4 hours but at 12 I only played Doom 2! But now I love drawing so I don't care much about playing just a couple of hours!

[@tonydolvin6048]

"It's like Super Smash Bros, but bad!"

[@RedstonekPL]

so exactly like super smash bros!

[@slagrajag]

I’d buy that for a dollar

[@horde6486]

@@RedstonekPL real

[@willwillcode7568]

It’s crazy how much you improved over 10 years!

[@purplevanilla]

it's normal for developers improving their projects after 10 years.

[@gibran800]

You're such an inspiration. Thanks for all this amazing content and congrats on your amazing and continued improvement over these 10 years. Happy holidays!

[@toblobs]

A decade of development is crazy, hope for much more in the future!

[@kelsierii4747]

Really cool to see your path. Youre a real inspiration for me and a lot of people. Hoping to get to your level some day

[@TechnicallyRipped]

Your journey so inspirational. I've been learning Python for a few years now, and recently started my pygame career. My games aren't too complex, but one day I'll reach your level!

[@Schnief]

Seeing this stuff is crazy, your skill and hard work is inspiring!

[@ViktorSarge]

Awesome! Nice to see PyGame being pushed this far. And I actually have of Murder and Moonshine wishlisted. Cool to hear you're working on it.

[@dardasaba7971]

I really love this type of videos, they're really inspiring! I'm currently starting my 3rd year of gamedev, I have 10 games so far (8 of them made for jams), and I'm currently working on turning my best jam game so far into a commercial project! Let's hope I'll be as skilled as you are by the time I reach my 10th year ;)

[@petsloverscontent]

Have you Deployed them in app store or Play Store so far?

[@FaunFunc]

thanks a ton man , you've inspired me and whole lot of others to make games. I'm actually following up with your tutorials as i make my own game. Happy holidays

[@mitsuhafan1543]

Love seeing videos like this. It's always inspiring to see other dev's journeys. Keep up the good work!!

[@PaulHindt]

I only discovered your work a year or two ago and you're doing amazing stuff! Great job!

[@JDoucette]

Great video. Sharing with my fellow video game developers, instructors, and risers. Thanks for sharing a blurb of your original one-file source code. Reminds me of my earlier work in BASIC before I learned about arrays.

[@jumanji4037]

This is an amazing journey, congrats on all your achievements! I’m on my third year of game dev thanks to you, and it’s the reason I’m doing computer science. Keep it up and I look forward to what you make next.

[@SecondsGuess]

Top-notch video! It was really cool to see how you improved over the years 👍

[@ggtooez]

Dude, it's amazing. I wish I've done as much as you when I was in high school. Aside from my classes, I only learned some web development, and I only went back to programming when I finished the uni. Now at 33 years I'm getting into graphics and game programming, so I have a lot of catching up to do. Anyway, you've got a new subscriber, and I'll check out your games for sure

[@TinyMaths]

I'm a year and a half into learning to code and a mix between app dev and basic game dev using JavaScript; I did my teething on JS and so have continued with that. Watching this was both daunting and hughely inspirational. I'm not even trying get into game dev as a career, it's purely a hobby, but I love it, warts and all, failures and successes. I don't recall seeing your channel before; you've earned my sub.

[@szolim2434]

Man, you are incredibly talented and hard-working, I could never! I wish you all the best and also merry christmas, Fluffy!

[@oliverchandler1072]

You're really inspiring, it's so cool seeing how much you've accomplished!

[@maqabayker]

I remember when I started with pygame, I started with your channel and it was great for me. Because I started strong with your videos. You were very inspirational and I believe it was your videos made me to do gamedev. I mainly focused on my art side (it was perfect but it got worsened now though, no practice for the last 2 years, I can get it back easily ). Even though I only developed one fully functional game (kind of, only a handful of people played ;) ) and one big demo type prototype, it was great for me. After some time, I dropped gamedev because chemical engineering major is not easy and right now I try to get graduate school hahaha. I want to get back to those projects so badly but let's see how it will be in future.

[@crimsonjack4676]

Great video! Your story inspires me and makes me sure that what's in your head is the most important! Thanks for the tips and helpful links! :))

[@Pixelskill]

Wow, you have had one hell of a journey. It was very refreshing to watch and see your progression. Good Luck in 2024, let the Journey continue !

[@emperor8716]

bro finally uploaded again! can't wait to watch this tmr, it's currently 3 am lol. also perfect timing cuz its semester break and i decided to get back into pygame today.

[@alexnelson1549]

Congrats! You got some awesome portfolio and a new subscriber 😁

[@MarcusSanatan]

As a professional software dev, I've known all the fundamentals for years and I've yet to make games as fun and appealing as yours. I love this video because you zoned in on the right thing, making games. Glad you were able to step back to see how far you've come. And the last 2 projects in particular look exciting. Keep it up!

[@LewisCowles]

I purchased super potato bruh, and knew you'd be going places; here's to another 10 years for you. Well done, and thanks for always learning and exhibiting so publicly, and honestly.

[@SlainMascot]

Man I've been watching since 2019 and I can't believe how long it's been and how far you've come! I use Godot, but your videos have and will always be an inspiration! I hope that my own gamedev and KZbin journey can be as fruitful as yours one day! Wish listed Of Murder and Moonshine. If you're working on it, I know it'll be quality! Happy (almost) New Year God bless! I know you'll do even more special things in 2024!

[@pixelcat29]

As someone who wants to code games in the future this really was nice to watch, keep it up.

[@velkb228]

Dude, I learned PyGame with one of your tutorials a long time ago and that was my first real solid contact with classes and heuristic methods. From there I started to code simulations of metabolic networks as a physics grad student using the same design patterns as sprites and now I work as a web developer. I've been visiting your work for almost the full decade and you're one of my all-time strongest personal inspirations that helped defining my way of thinking and work ethics. Approaching complex problems from zero and creating entire frameworks from scratch, no matter how long and challenging it may be, has been my philosophy since then. You pretty much ignited my passion for coding and I'm so proud of how far you went and how absolutely gorgeous your games have become. Thank you so much for the content and kawabanga.

[@DaFluffyPotato]

Thanks for sharing! This is one of the main reasons I enjoy making educational content.

[@user-up6cw4fl7w]

​@@DaFluffyPotato👍

[@halal_boiy]

@@DaFluffyPotatohey bro, I really want to learn how to make games but idk where to start

[@michaelpalmer2143]

Great video. Makes me feel lazy though as I haven't started a new pygame project in years. Your particle effects are amazing and I need to look into your moderngl usage. I got stuck on a bug with one-way slanted floor tile physics in Flyboy 18 months ago, decided to try Godot, and got distracted by real life before ever doing it.

[@walkingpuppy3282]

The variables for every entity is very relatable it's cool how your games got better during 2018 so that's 5 years of gamedev expirence. Inspired

[@khangthaitran]

This video really inspires me to learn more about game development. Thank you so much!

[@santaalex]

I usually do not write any comments under KZbin videos, however, Your work, and Your story is inspiring - keep doing what You are doing, You're good at it!

[@matswikstrom7453]

Really inspiring! Thank You for sharing 😊👍

[@strongenough4u]

Thanks for this, man. Truly. I've been messing around with engines for years but I've never finished a project because of my fear of negative criticism. Hopefully I'll be able to turn it around.

[@pietraderdetective8953]

I have been following your development for the last 2 years which has been inspirational for me. I'm now using Godot as my primary game engine (tried several others previously) and I'm really hoping you will start putting out Godot tutorials as well especially after looking at how good you are with Godot in the game jam!

[@ZelltisExx]

Really interesting and nice Video! :) About time I finally finish a prototype/idea 😅

[@DonMarges]

Great video! Kudos for starting Programming at such a young age!

[@neozoid7009]

Cool journey mate❤❤🎉 Congrats

[@Fraaaaaaag]

im not cs student but am currently learning proggraming by my self and was making a simple 2d shooting and saw ur video then i looked into it and wow your dedication is mindblowing

[@sitrakaforler8696]

wow that is a dam journey ! congrats ! and keep it up man !!!!

[@carlossegura403]

Although I'm not a game developer, I appreciate and respect you for sharing your journey in a video!

[@nickarburton7326]

You are probably one of the most cool people I have ever seen,your progression over the years really inspire me.

[@perspectiva5952]

ty for all the hard work, you are one of the rares!

[@QuirkyAvik]

The guy is being humble, some of the stuff he just brushed over was extremely impressive. I am excited for the kids that are inspired by this video, they will have such high standards set for themselves.

[@AltiusGames]

Your story sounds exactly like mine, except I've only got 4-5 years in python/pygame and gamedev experience, its so inspring to see where it could take you.

[@not_ever]

You've come a long way from writing code that looks like an internet meme to writing your own networking framework. Congratulations your amazing progress.

[@Eleanorotica]

It is so cool to see you grow as a developer over time =D

[@onogrirwin]

I really admire your ability to pick projects that are of practical size. For whatever reason all of my projects end up evolving into MMORPGs at some point, and I have yet to finish a game.

[@VeryRGOTI]

Try to make arcade games with mouse-only controls or a set amount of mechanics.

[@OvershotDuke82]

Thanks for inspiration! Got yourself a subscriber :D

[@josephk6136]

Congrats on finishing your degree!

[@xyzxyz6095]

Be Blessed and Successful in all your actions. The fact that you share your programming journey woths all of the Netflix's movie data base 😂. You're awesome,kid. Keep inspiring us the rest of the pythonistas all over the world. Salutations from France.

[@Abdi_Akhmet]

Nice Video! Keep up the good work

[@Gabirell]

Só good to see your progress!

[@tarikramic4042]

You are the biggest and the best pygame content creator, im always learning while watching your videos

[@tejasjagtap7961]

your games are so cool i can't even tell how much

[@BetterBusinessJB]

This is awesome bro!

[@petter9078]

This guy will pop off. Games looks insanely good. Oozes quality!

[@onogrirwin]

7:37 that's so cool! Never seen anything like that.

[@kv_sagittarii]

Tbh, bro... you didnt gave me motivation and inspiration to make huge projects in programming. You just showed me that simple and small things are awesome. Thank you sm!

[@isaiah3613]

I don't know why but this really motivated to keep learning game development, I had just recently hit a slump so thank you

[@darrenlefcoe]

absolutely brilliant, well done...

[@CameronBFunny]

You and Pirate Software are my favorite game developers

[@VeryRGOTI]

This video is quite inspiring. Moral of the story is if you want to get better at coding then you need to code, code, and code and you will learn and become better over the months/years eventually.

[@Codeandpi]

Brilliant video thankyou

[@mikeperry773]

What an incredible portfolio!

[@Jrndkfnrkfjdbckbdk]

Yay, an actual new video!

[@TidBitOf]

So excited for the next few years. Congrats on Graduating University! As a 10+ year Python Developer I love your videos because I can pursue my game development hobby in a language I love. Thanks!

[@sereneorb]

Hey i want to also do in game dev just by investing my time and money in python. Do u think i can become stable game developer by mastering python?

[@BusinessWolf1]

dope, thanks for sharing

[@rosecodes7202]

Possibly because I am still a fledging programmer I don't get it, but I don't know how someone goes from following a bunch of tutorials and making a game to understanding how to code your own shader and VFX to be reused in later games. Without that book or that tutorial or some other resource, how can you go from one to the other? From being to code things which don't exist yet? For which there is no step by step resource? I'm just in awe of you, man. It's incredible what you've achieved.

[@BrandonWilliams-wf6hg]

Ngl you do inspire me.

[@Coding_and_Gaming]

Very inspiring thanks for sharing.

[@gqueirogabr]

This video is inspiring and disheartening at the same time...game dev didnt seem like a possibility when i was younger and seeing what people have done now makes me wish i could go back. Im still going to give it a try.

[@DaFluffyPotato]

Learning goes much quicker when you're older and smarter.

[@shinkouhai919]

5:28 omg that's the game I've be searching for like 3 years! can't believe that I could found the game this way!

[@daveybutlerbjj]

This is so awesome, I didn't know the dev behind super potatoe bruh had such a long history with pygame! I mentioned super potatoe bruh in my class, to show people what is possible with pygame 😅 Big inspo for sure... I would be curious to know how many hours per month you think you spent on making games!

[@DaFluffyPotato]

Probably 20-30

[@yew7607]

How are you able to make games so quickly? It feels like it takes me about a day to implement a single simple feature and you're able to churn them out in matter of days. Seriously amazing!

[@deumnoctis]

Copy a lot of the base mechanics form previous code and write spaghetti code, I also often find my self working on a problem longer than I should jsut because I want to get it perfect but just writing shitty code at first and then improving on it honestly worked better for me

[@DaFluffyPotato]

Python makes features not take much code, so practice makes it go super fast.

[@apekz3592]

Make a basic pygame library for less boilerplate

[@abrarmasumabir3809]

there is tutorial about pygame, platformer stuff like that but where can I find the game mechanics to learn! awesome visualizations like yours!

[@dwadthechad]

The rapid quality increase of your games over time is just astounding!

[@DaFluffyPotato]

10 years is a long time though

[@dwadthechad]

@@DaFluffyPotato still it's impressive how early on you started

[@dreamingacacia]

You started a year earlier than me. When I was 12, I still just another cart pulled by the train. I tried to make something for myself too, but the distinct in education sure make differences. When I started, I was just following tutorials hell and struggle with life. I tried so hard to make something more tangible, but always ended up in failure. Maybe we had different understanding of games when we started. Back then it's like making platformer is good enough to call it a day or something. I tried to make something impossible, far far beyond my own skills. The worst thing is I don't even know what I'm trying to make. Maybe this is one of reasons we're different. I'm someone that played a lot of games while you're someone that started making games because you've got time limit for gaming session. Since I was 6 y/o I play videogames for at least 6hrs/day during weekend, and I also play videogames on PC during weekday for 2hrs/day since I was 10. While I've got limited by my own freedom, you've got creative by your own limitations. I forgot to mention that during these past 10 years, there're several periods that I spent all my waking hours gaming. So roughly 15 to 18 hours/day. So it's not like I'm being super productive here either, and this is the consequences of my own actions. Your success is well deserved, and you'll have much greater success in the future. Meanswhile I'll have to crawl up and find my way toward the first success milestone to make myself a proper debut as a game developer.

[@RandomGuyOnDaFreakingNet]

This video gave me a huge bunch of inspiration, I do wanna ask you one thing though... If im watching a tutorial and I don't understand some parts of it, do I finish the vid or not? like would it still help me?

[@DaFluffyPotato]

There should be some fragments you understand still, so you should still be benefiting a bit, but generally it's best to focus on understanding everything that's happening.

[@SirEye258]

Just starting my journey hope to get like you😄!

[@msrsidehustle]

Thats awesome

[@atalfed]

I really like the look of that fishing game, would you ever release the source for your uncompleted games? Great video!

[@DaFluffyPotato]

I release most of my "unreleased" code on Patreon. I don't think the fishing game is there yet though.

[@realElzie]

I am finishing my second year of a computer science degree. Coding is a lot of fun but sometimes writing file managing systems gets boring. I should try out pygame.

[@ShocooYT]

It's really interesting, I'm learning python

[@Volt-Eye.]

19:05 this concept is now a full fledged Google Play Store Game 😂😂😂😂

[@Backrub3Bucks]

I graduated with you! Congrats.

[@DuuhK]

learning java now and not sure where i want to take it from there but im hoping someday i can make games as well

[@ManCulture-tx9zo]

Would you consider switching to C++ or Lua in the future?

[@sw33tialucard]

I’m learning Python at the moment, my first programming language. I have no idea what I want to do with it but I really appreciate this.

[@Qrealtorpa]

Same

[@pet.me102]

Would you try making games using c++ or unity? Just curious.

[@niceowl]

As you mentioned mediapipe, did you find any documentation for it? Last time I looked I only found some basic example articles and the C++ SDK is completely different, so I had to reverse engineer the API.

[@DaFluffyPotato]

Yeah, it's a bit scarce.

[@4F6D]

Holy fuck respect, but when you scrolled over that code in the beginning I was puking all over my keyboard.

[@Btomaek]

in less time i learnt 3d but also 3d has gotten better over the last 3-5 years

[@squirrelthug]

I fucking lost it at your description of Super Launchers at 1:46 😂

[@frosty4769]

legend

[@SirEye258]

Also I got a question what would you recommend to a game developer who just uses free or paid assets should I learn how to make my own?

[@DaFluffyPotato]

There aren't many examples of successful games using asset packs. It restrains your creativity by stopping you from putting new things in the game. Mixing packs usually looks odd too. Most people end up either learning to do it themselves or hiring someone.

[@ghazouaniahmed766]

lovely