Pygame is a great package for Python to create games. Asobi is a wrapper for Pygame to give Python learners access to the game engine by reducing the amount of Python syntax and concepts needed to build simple games and/or animations.

At its simplest, a programmer needs only a scalar state variable, such as a number, a function to update the state variable every tick of the clock, and a functon to render the image. Asobi takes care of running the UI loop, passing events to the programmer, and offering a simplified API for displaying shapes and images.

The user will only need a single import to get started.

import asobi

Next, set the window dimensions, or use the default of 640x480.

window_size(640, 480)

Optionally set the clock rate of ticks per second. Default is 20.

tick_rate(10)

You can start drawing on the surface (window). If running interactively, the shapes will appear immediately. This helps learners see what effect their instructions are having on the image.

Preferrably, the user would define a rendering function (by default, render) that draws the image. If not using the default name, set the rendering function.

set_renderer(my_render)

In my opinion, the pygame module isn't easy to use for a beginner--one with only a rudimentary knowledge of programming concepts. To run the Quick Start programs from the pygame.org website, one must know about:

• tuples
• arrays
• objects and classes
• variables
• strings and integers
• Booleans
• Loops

One can, of course, just copy-and-paste the sample code. But I would prefer that someone with only a couple of basic concepts can get started making simple animations. With only knowledge of numbers, basic arithmetic, numeric variables, calling functions, and defining a function that takes and returns numeric values, one ought to be able make an animation such as a bouncing ball. With just a few more functions (and no extra programming concepts), keyboard events interactions can be added, allowing the learner to make a simple game.