Pygame provides several built-in functions for detecting collisions between game objects.

These are invaluable because working out exactly when and how moving objects overlap can be a complicated task.

Learn how to add basic physics and collisions in your game using the pygame module.

Illustrations representing wireframe diagrams of four website pages

Pygames Built-In Collision Detection Functions

The most basic built-in collision detection function is spritecollide.

This function returns a list of sprites that have collided.

The Player class should have an update method to handle the position of the player based on the velocity.

simple platformer game using pygame

Also, it should have a y_velocity variable to apply the gravity effect.

Player Class

you’re able to create a Player class using the pygame.sprite.Sprite module.

This class will initialize the player with a given x and y coordinates.

simple platformer game with gravity and acceleration

Then, the update method will update the position of the player by incrementing the y_velocity value.

Platform Class

The Platform class also uses the pygame.sprite.Sprite module.

Then, it will run a loop that will check for any events, such as a quit command.

It will also check for any collisions between the player and the platform.

The following code snippet is an example of how to jump when a player presses the spacebar.

you could find the complete code in theGitHub repository.

Improve User Engagement With Collisions

Many games require some form of collision detection.