How to create walking character using multiple images from sprite sheet using Pygame?

In this article, we will cover how to create a walking character using multiple images from a sprite sheet using Pygame. 

Any video or films that are made are actually the frames of pictures or images. The more the frame of images one has more will be the smoothness of that film or video. In sprite, we can develop any video or game with the use of images. Sprite in Pygame is the feature that provides us to make exciting, creative videos or games with the use of images. Many of us are fond of making our photos like a character in a game. One can also use their images as a character in the game. Here, we will cover how to make a character and we will animate it using time.Clock(). After that, we will implement that code to make it move manually using right-left keys.

Package Requirement

pip install pygame

File Structure

To make your code run kindly store your files as in the below-declared file structure.

Store the file in the same way as described above

Example 1: Move character automatically

To move the character in the sprite window without pressing any keyboard keys means the movement of the character automatically.

• Import the below-required libraries.
• Give the dimension of your sprite window and import the collection of your images from your directory.
• Declare a list that can hold each image in one list.
• Provide the movement, velocity, Clock speed, and FPS to your character and you are ready to go with your character.

Python3

import pygame as py
import os

# The width and height of our screen
win = py.display.set_mode((200, 280))
py.display.set_caption("Sprite pygame movement")

# Frames per second
FPS = 30

# The main class for our sprite window
class Sprite_Window(py.sprite.Sprite):
    def __init__(self):
        super(Sprite_Window, self).__init__()

        # Name of the folder in which all the
        # images are stored
        folderPath = "Character_images_left"

        # Storing the folder location in a list
        myList = os.listdir(folderPath)
        self.images = []
        for imPath in myList:

            # Appending all the images in the array
            self.images.append(py.image.load(f'{folderPath}/{imPath}'))

        self.index = 0
        self.image = self.images[self.index]
        self.rect = py.Rect(5, 5, 150, 198)

    def update(self):

        # Increase the value of the index by 1
        # so that we can change the sprite images
        self.index += 1

        if self.index >= len(self.images):
            self.index = 0
        self.image = self.images[self.index]


py.init()
my_sprite = Sprite_Window()
my_group = py.sprite.Group(my_sprite)
clock = py.time.Clock()

# q is here for a boolean value to cancel
# the running window
q = 1
while q:
    for event in py.event.get():
        if event.type == py.QUIT:
            q = 0
    my_group.update()

    # Background image
    bg = py.image.load('hacker.gif')

    win.blit(bg, (1, 1))
    my_group.draw(win)
    py.display.update()
    clock.tick(13)

Output:

Output for the automatic walking of a character in sprite

Example 2: Move the character manually with the right and left keys.

To move the character in the sprite window by pressing the “left-arrow” and “right-arrow” keyboard keys means the movement of the character is manually handled by the user.

• Press the left key to move the character’s left side.
• Press the right key to move the character’s right side.
• You can’t move out of the screen as we have declared the moving direction for the character to not move beyond the displayed screen.

Python3

import pygame as py
import os
py.init()

# THE WIDTH AND HEIGHT OF OUR SCREEN
win = py.display.set_mode((600, 480))

py.display.set_caption("Sprite pygame direction movement")

# DECLARING THE LOCATION OF THE FOLDER
# IN WHICH ALL THE LEFT
# AND RIGHT IMAGES FOR THE MOVEMENT
folderPath_left = "Character_images_left"
folderPath_right = "Character_images_right"

# STORE THE FOLDER LOCATION IN ONE LIST
myList_right = os.listdir(folderPath_right)
myList_left = os.listdir(folderPath_left)

# PICTURE FOR RIGHT MOVEMENT
movement_right = []
for imPath in myList_right:

    # APPENDING THE IMAGES WITH THE
    # LOCATION IN A LIST
    movement_right.append(py.image.load(f'{folderPath_right}/{imPath}'))

# PICTURE FOR LEFT MOVEMENT
movement_left = []
for imPath in myList_left:

    # APPENDING THE IMAGES WITH THE
    # LOCATION IN A LIST
    movement_left.append(py.image.load(f'{folderPath_left}/{imPath}'))

# SETTING BACKGROUND IMAGE
bg = py.image.load('hacker.gif')

# SETTING CHARACTER IMAGE FOR THE
# STANDING POSITION
standing_position = py.image.load('r1.png')

x = 20
y = 100
width = 40
height = 100
velocity = 5

clock = py.time.Clock()

left = False
right = False
movement_count = 0

# Declaring the sprite window
def Sprite_Window():

    # To store the movement count
    global movement_count

    win.blit(bg, (1, 1))
    if movement_count + 1 >= 20:
        movement_count = 0

    # To move the character right side of
    # the sprite window
    if right:
        win.blit(movement_right[movement_count//4], (x, y))
        movement_count = movement_count + 1

    # To move the character left side of
    # the sprite window
    elif left:
        win.blit(movement_left[movement_count//4], (x, y))
        movement_count = movement_count + 1

    # If user will not press any keys then
    # the image in the sprite
    # window will be in the standing position
    else:
        win.blit(standing_position, (x, y))
        movement_count = 0

    # To update the display screen
    py.display.update()


# This will be used to quit the window
run = 1
while run:

    # This will manage the frame rate and provide
    # more smoothness to the movement
    clock.tick(33)
    for event in py.event.get():
        if event.type == py.QUIT:
            run = 0
    keys = py.key.get_pressed()

    # To move to the end of the screen
    if keys[py.K_RIGHT] and x < 480 - velocity - width:

        # For moving in the right direction
        x += velocity
        right = True
        left = False

    # To move to the end of the screen
    elif keys[py.K_LEFT] and x > velocity - width:

        # For moving in the left direction
        x -= velocity
        right = False
        left = True
    else:
        left = False
        right = False
        movement_count = 0

    Sprite_Window()
py.quit()

Output:

Output for the manual movement of the character by the left and right key in sprite