Revisit the arcade classic Pong in Python
This series of building retro games in Python has so far seen us coding a lunar landing space module, a side-scrolling platformer, the famous pellet-munching, ghost-chasing Pac-Man, and in this issue we’re going to develop our own version of Pong!
To many, Pong is the original arcade game. It’s certainly the first video game to become a commercial success. Released for arcades in 1972 and for the home in 1975, Pong was gained popularity worldwide and is now permanently memorialised in the Smithsonian Institute in Washingon DC. Developed and self-published by Atari, Pong is a 2D table tennis simulation with arguably the most simplistic game design imaginable, while managing to achieve an incredibly addictive gaming experience.
What gameplay?
Gameplay mechanics in Pong are quite simple. It’s essentially ping-pong seen from a basic birds-eye view. The game makes use of vector graphics to display a rectangular shape for the players’ pads and a square (or rough circle, depending on the processing power) for the ball.
In single-player mode, the player moves one paddle and the computer acts as a non-player character, controlling the second. The idea is
