import pygame
pygame.init()
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((640, 480))
clock = pygame.time.Clock()
done = False
font = pygame.font.SysFont("comicsansms", 72)
text = font.render("Hello, World", True, (0, 128, 0))
while not done:
for event in pygame.event.get():
if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
done = True
if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN and event.key == pygame.K_ESCAPE:
done = True
screen.fill((255, 255, 255))
screen.blit(text,
(320 - text.get_width() // 2, 240 - text.get_height() // 2))
pygame.display.flip()
clock.tick(60)
pygame.init()
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((640, 480))
clock = pygame.time.Clock()
done = False
font = pygame.font.SysFont("comicsansms", 72)
text = font.render("Hello, World", True, (0, 128, 0))
while not done:
for event in pygame.event.get():
if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
done = True
if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN and event.key == pygame.K_ESCAPE:
done = True
screen.fill((255, 255, 255))
screen.blit(text,
(320 - text.get_width() // 2, 240 - text.get_height() // 2))
pygame.display.flip()
clock.tick(60)
But of course, there's a few things not ideal about this.
Rule #1: You should never assume a certain font is installed on the user's computer. Even in CSS there is a way to define a hierarchy of fonts to use. If the best choice for font isn't available, an alternate is used. You should follow the same pattern. Luckily, PyGame has a way to enumerate all the fonts available on the machine:
all_fonts = pygame.font.get_fonts()
Additionally, there's a way to instantiate the default system font:
font = pygame.font.Font(None, size)
And alternatively, you can pass in the name of a font file you include along with your code instead of None to guarantee the existence of the perfect font:
font = pygame.font.Font("myresources/fonts/Papyrus.ttf", 26)
Using any combination of the above, you can write a better font creation function. For example, here's a function that takes a list of font names, a font size and will create a font instance for the first available font in the list. If none are available, it'll use the default system font.
def make_font(fonts, size):
available = pygame.font.get_fonts()
# get_fonts() returns a list of lowercase spaceless font names
choices = map(lambda x:x.lower().replace(' ', ''), fonts)
for choice in choices:
if choice in available:
return pygame.font.SysFont(choice, size)
return pygame.font.Font(None, size)
available = pygame.font.get_fonts()
# get_fonts() returns a list of lowercase spaceless font names
choices = map(lambda x:x.lower().replace(' ', ''), fonts)
for choice in choices:
if choice in available:
return pygame.font.SysFont(choice, size)
return pygame.font.Font(None, size)
You can even further improve it by caching the font instance by font name and size.
_cached_fonts = {}
def get_font(font_preferences, size):
global _cached_fonts
key = str(font_preferences) + '|' + str(size)
font = _cached_fonts.get(key, None)
if font == None:
font = make_font(font_preferences, size)
_cached_fonts[key] = font
return font
def get_font(font_preferences, size):
global _cached_fonts
key = str(font_preferences) + '|' + str(size)
font = _cached_fonts.get(key, None)
if font == None:
font = make_font(font_preferences, size)
_cached_fonts[key] = font
return font
You can take it a step further and actually cache the rendered text itself. Storing an image is cheaper than rendering a new one, especially if you plan on having the same text show up for more than one consecutive frame. Yes. That is your plan if you want it to be readable.
_cached_text = {}
def create_text(text, fonts, size, color):
global _cached_text
key = '|'.join(map(str, (fonts, size, color, text)))
image = _cached_text.get(key, None)
if image == None:
font = get_font(fonts, size)
image = font.render(text, True, color)
_cached_text[key] = image
return image
def create_text(text, fonts, size, color):
global _cached_text
key = '|'.join(map(str, (fonts, size, color, text)))
image = _cached_text.get(key, None)
if image == None:
font = get_font(fonts, size)
image = font.render(text, True, color)
_cached_text[key] = image
return image
Putting it all together.
Now here's that original "Hello, World" example but with the improved code:
import pygame
def make_font(fonts, size):
available = pygame.font.get_fonts()
# get_fonts() returns a list of lowercase spaceless font names
choices = map(lambda x:x.lower().replace(' ', ''), fonts)
for choice in choices:
if choice in available:
return pygame.font.SysFont(choice, size)
return pygame.font.Font(None, size)
_cached_fonts = {}
def get_font(font_preferences, size):
global _cached_fonts
key = str(font_preferences) + '|' + str(size)
font = _cached_fonts.get(key, None)
if font == None:
font = make_font(font_preferences, size)
_cached_fonts[key] = font
return font
_cached_text = {}
def create_text(text, fonts, size, color):
global _cached_text
key = '|'.join(map(str, (fonts, size, color, text)))
image = _cached_text.get(key, None)
if image == None:
font = get_font(fonts, size)
image = font.render(text, True, color)
_cached_text[key] = image
return image
pygame.init()
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((640, 480))
clock = pygame.time.Clock()
done = False
font_preferences = [
"Bizarre-Ass Font Sans Serif",
"They definitely dont have this installed Gothic",
"Papyrus",
"Comic Sans MS"]
text = create_text("Hello, World", font_preferences, 72, (0, 128, 0))
while not done:
for event in pygame.event.get():
if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
done = True
if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN and event.key == pygame.K_ESCAPE:
done = True
screen.fill((255, 255, 255))
screen.blit(text,
(320 - text.get_width() // 2, 240 - text.get_height() // 2))
pygame.display.flip()
clock.tick(60)
def make_font(fonts, size):
available = pygame.font.get_fonts()
# get_fonts() returns a list of lowercase spaceless font names
choices = map(lambda x:x.lower().replace(' ', ''), fonts)
for choice in choices:
if choice in available:
return pygame.font.SysFont(choice, size)
return pygame.font.Font(None, size)
_cached_fonts = {}
def get_font(font_preferences, size):
global _cached_fonts
key = str(font_preferences) + '|' + str(size)
font = _cached_fonts.get(key, None)
if font == None:
font = make_font(font_preferences, size)
_cached_fonts[key] = font
return font
_cached_text = {}
def create_text(text, fonts, size, color):
global _cached_text
key = '|'.join(map(str, (fonts, size, color, text)))
image = _cached_text.get(key, None)
if image == None:
font = get_font(fonts, size)
image = font.render(text, True, color)
_cached_text[key] = image
return image
pygame.init()
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((640, 480))
clock = pygame.time.Clock()
done = False
font_preferences = [
"Bizarre-Ass Font Sans Serif",
"They definitely dont have this installed Gothic",
"Papyrus",
"Comic Sans MS"]
text = create_text("Hello, World", font_preferences, 72, (0, 128, 0))
while not done:
for event in pygame.event.get():
if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
done = True
if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN and event.key == pygame.K_ESCAPE:
done = True
screen.fill((255, 255, 255))
screen.blit(text,
(320 - text.get_width() // 2, 240 - text.get_height() // 2))
pygame.display.flip()
clock.tick(60)
Next up: More on Input
Hey, there, Python folks. Hope you enjoyed the post. I just wanted to give a quick shout-out for a weekly Python code golf that I recently started up over on StringLabs.io. If you like Python puzzles please come check it out!