Python Crash Course, Alien Invasion - game runs too slowly after creating the fleet

[css9145134736]

I’m fairly new to coding and working on the Alien Invasion project in the book Python Crash Course. However, I’ve run into an issue after creating the alien fleet wherein the game runs very, very slowly. This shouldn’t be an issue with my computer as it’s pretty new and can run far more complex tasks without any issues. Here’s the relevant code:

In the file alien_invasion.py (the main game file):

def run_game():
    #start the game. init initializes the background.
    #screen draws the screen with its size. 
    pygame.init()
    ai_settings = Settings()
    screen = pygame.display.set_mode((ai_settings.screen_width, ai_settings.screen_height))
    pygame.display.set_caption("Alien Invasion")
    #colors in RGB
    bg_color = (230, 230, 230)
    #Makes a ship, bullets, and aliens
    ship = Ship(ai_settings, screen)
    bullets = Group()
    alien = Alien(ai_settings, screen)
    aliens = Group()
   
    
    #Make an alien fleet
    gf.create_fleet(ai_settings, screen, ship, aliens)
 
    #start the main loop
    while True:
        
        gf.check_events(ai_settings, screen, ship, bullets)
        ship.update()
        bullets.update()
        gf.update_bullets(aliens, bullets)
        gf.update_aliens(ai_settings, aliens)
        gf.update_screen(ai_settings, screen, ship, aliens, bullets)
        
run_game()

And in the game_functions file:

def get_number_aliens_x(ai_settings, alien_width):
    #Determines how many aliens fit in a row
    available_space_x = ai_settings.screen_width - 2 * alien_width
    number_aliens_x = int(available_space_x / 2 * alien_width)
    return number_aliens_x

def get_number_rows(ai_settings, ship_height, alien_height):
    #Determines how many rows of aliens to make
    available_space_y = (ai_settings.screen_height -
                         (3 * alien_height) - ship_height)
    number_rows = int(available_space_y / (2 * alien_height))
    return number_rows

def create_alien(ai_settings, screen, aliens, alien_number, row_number):
    #Creates an alien and places it in the row
    alien = Alien(ai_settings, screen)
    alien_width = alien.rect.width
    alien.x = alien_width + 2 * alien_width * alien_number
    alien.rect.x = alien.x
    alien.rect.y = alien.rect.height + 2 * alien.rect.height * row_number
    aliens.add(alien)
def create_fleet(ai_settings, screen, ship, aliens):
    #Creates a fleet of aliens
    alien = Alien(ai_settings, screen)
    number_aliens_x = get_number_aliens_x(ai_settings, alien.rect.width)
    number_rows = get_number_rows(ai_settings, ship.rect.height, alien.rect.height)
    
    #Creates the first row of aliens and places them
    for row_number in range(number_rows):
        for alien_number in range(number_aliens_x):
            create_alien(ai_settings, screen, aliens, alien_number, row_number)

Can anyone spot why it might be running so slowly?

[css9145134736]

There seems to be no way to delete this post, but anyway, in case any others come along, I was missing a set of brackets in calculating number_aliens_x. Adding those solved it.

[toastedpitabread]

It could be your update functions (which you haven’t shared).
In general I would think it’s in the game loop as that work cannot be done upfront.

Even though pygame is not performant it should still be able to handle vaguely efficient solutions for simple games.