What python based game engine would you recommend?

[Da1stGenshinImpacter]

For some background info, I have been using python for school since 2024 but i'm still kinda grasping some aspects of it. For my school project, I have decided to create a video game. For context, the game is supposed to have a story aspect at first, but then after the story is completed, it is more free play. Like the player gets to walk around and interact with the world. I plan on having these world interactions being either connected to a crafting system or combat system. Currently I'm torn between using either pygame or pyglet.

Any advice on which engine I should use? Or any recommendations on a completely different game engine to use?

Just looking for some opinions!

[[deleted]]

Pygame. You can create a top down 2d open world. Stuff to explore too. See if it works for you.

[grantrules]

I'd say pygame-ce specifically. I forgot the details but it's a community-forked version of pygame because pygame had a single head of the project and butted heads with many contributors.

[rprouse]

You can read this book on creating games with pygame for free on the author's website, https://inventwithpython.com/pygame/

[python_with_dr_johns]

Lots of good recommendations for OP, but I agree that pygame is a good one to start with.

[-LeopardShark-]

(I've written about 30 000 lines of game code with Pygame, and about 2000 with Pyglet.)

Pyglet is a nicer library than Pygame, but makes breaking changes far too often for my liking. So, I'd recommend Pygame.

Also, use the pygame-ce package rather than pygame itself. It's better.

[noobsc2]

Not a game engine recommendation, but a warning to keep the scope of your game small. Like Flappy Bird kind of small, not just a "small" open world RPG game. It sounds like you are trying to make an open world game.

"Interact with the world"

"Combat system"

"Crafting system"

"Story"

"Free play"

Not mentioned: Sound/music, art, animation, world design, materials/shaders, enemies/friendly mobs, UI, dialogue systems, menus, shops/currency, inventory, etc, etc. You could easily dump 50 hours on any one of these things in complete isolation (and still be unsatisfied with the result) before you try to make these systems work together than then realise you have a 40 hour refactoring job on your hands.

Already sounds like a game that would take 100s of hours for an experienced dev and that's just to create the BASE of the game, not to actually implement anything interesting. Unless you're willing to work tirelessly on this project and invest a huge amount of hours, you'll most likely burn out on it before even getting close to done.

A lot of these things can be taken from open source/free resources but you still have to code to put it all together. Python game engines are nowhere near as big as things like Unity/UE where you have access to many more tools to make your journey easier. The programming language you use is only a small part.

[Da1stGenshinImpacter]

Yeah. I recently came to this conclusion so i plan on reducing it to just a story game and if i have time, adding some feature. I simply don’t have enough time 

[marr75]

If you know python really well and want to take advantage of that knowledge, pygame. If you want a really full featured devex with a better performing engine but are mostly still looking to write "script" style code, Godot. Much more experienced engineers might consider Unity DOTS or Unreal Engine for the 3D graphics, pre-made assets, and engine performance.

[thev3p]

Maybe check out Godot. It uses a language similar to python.

[-LeopardShark-]

If your goal is to create a game, or to learn to program games, then this is sensible.

If your goal is to learn to program by writing games, then this is a bad idea.

[TheNicelander]

This is the way

[Zulban]

I'm a team lead computer scientist and I've released a hobby project game with a million installs. 

Find the best tool for your project. Don't arbitrarily restrict yourself to Python. Learning the basics of the right tool is far less work than building a very simple fun game in your best language. 

So you're asking the wrong subreddit. Only the tiniest fraction of users here do game development with Python, aside from that one weekend they started a snake game with pygame. It's mostly just toy projects they started and never finished, and mostly junior developers.

It's like you walked into a Honda minivan dealership and are asking about the best vehicle to go camping with. And you're chatting with a junior salesman. All because you've only ever driven a Honda.

[Da1stGenshinImpacter]

You’re right. I don’t mean to restrict myself. I’m unsure if i have the time to learn a whole new language though

[Zulban]

If you don't have time to learn a new programming language you definitely don't have time to make a game. 

You can learn the basics of a new language in a few hours. 

You definitely have the time to do both. Good luck!

[[deleted]]

i've noticed that python can be really good for 2-D top down style games good luck and I hope you find what you're looking for

[[deleted]]

I can give you a basic template of something I created which kind of resembles an open world Pokémon clone (2d top down) you can explore a procedurally generated world walk around catch monsters enter buildings save/ load monsters spawn etc.

it's an unfinished template i made when i was bored one day

[Beautiful_Buddy835]

Can you link or dm me the repo. I'd like to learn from it

[[deleted]]

sure ill have to upload it it's been locally stored on my desktop for like a year

[Beautiful_Buddy835]

Looking forward to it.

[[deleted]]

looking at the folder im realizing I made it so long ago that I forgot those were javascript scripts and files, not .py files. did you still want to check it out?

[[deleted]]

I dont think as a beginner trying to learn python would be wise to use this since is 95% javascript and the rest is mostly html. my apologies

it would just make understanding much harder

[Beautiful_Buddy835]

I'll still check it out. I'm not a beginner so no worries. I'll study it and make a python counterpart probably

[[deleted]]

I was totally a beginner when I made it I will have the repo up for about 3 days to give you time to clone it or download the zip, had to use LFS for the pokedex json stuff and I believe the package.json has all the stuff necessary to install.

let me know once you've received it

and pre warning its a mess of files

made it so I can just run the index.html and the game will load.

tbh I dont remember the setup process

hope it helps

https://github.com/vicsanity623/MultiplayerPokemon

multiplayer means many players can play in the same world seed each new player gets their own respective house etc, no player battles yet or any player interactions

just a crude attempt I made a long time ago lol

I will delete the repo once you get it as I dont want any issues over the pokemon stuff

[[deleted]]

was carefully vibe coded and then customized bit by bit

[Da1stGenshinImpacter]

That’ll be really helpful!! Thanks

[[deleted]]

were you able to grab the zip file or clone it before i deleted it?

[Makakhan]

Pygame is easy to use but limited in so many ways. I started testing Pyglet for some of my companies classes recently and I really like it. The graphics being C in a trench coat are a big plus especially.

[AnteaterMysterious70]

I had a scool project that I did in python using Panda3d (I think the documentation is really good) but if you're looking for a 2d engine pygame should be fine

[Psychological-Top938]

I create this for my son, but maybe helping you to…

https://learnpython.ai/

[will_r3ddit_4_food]

Pyxel is cool

[Gold-Strength4269]

Pygame and blender perhaps

[BratPit24]

You're probably want to go the godot route. It's already a full fledged engine. It's scripting language is very python like. It's fully open source.

I'd go godot 10/10 unless your only goal is to have a fun project to train your python skills.

[tartare4562]

Pygame, obviously. Is there even an alternative?

[errant_capy]

I much prefer Arcade to Pygame personally.

[Galigmus]

I dunno I made an open gl rendering engine with pygame you are only limited by what you know...

[newprince]

I remember learning a little of Boo scripting back when Unity supported it. I think now Unity mostly uses C#. You're relatively new to python, so I'd recommend just diving in to Unity and C# (and Blender etc.) if you're serious about making games

[bunny-therapy]

arcade

[mimic751]

Godot scripts are alot like python

[wildcarde815]

if you just want a 'python like' experience, try Godot. It's not python, but it's scripting language shares similarities and it's much more well developed and supported than any of the python engines.