About and FAQ

Pygame Studio started from a common annoyance for people learning games with pygame: placing a sprite means guessing coordinates and restarting the game to check. The Studio gives them a visual scene and a Run button, and keeps the game in plain Python. It is made by Andrei Seabra, a software engineer in Brazil, and is at version 0.1.0.

Pygame Studio is independent and is not an official project of pygame or pygame-ce.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to know Python?

Not to build the scene: you place, resize and set everything up with the mouse and the Properties panel. To make the game react to the player, yes, you write Python scripts. The tutorial uses a 15 line script, and the editor suggests names as you type.

Do I need to install Python?

No. The installer ships with Python 3.13 and pygame-ce. Each project gets its own Python environment, set up by the editor.

Does it work offline?

Yes, for making, editing and running games. You need internet in three cases: when the app checks for updates, for the first desktop export (the editor downloads PyInstaller), and to export or play the browser version.

Is it the same as pygame?

No. Pygame Studio is an editor that runs on pygame-ce, the community edition of pygame. It adds scenes, nodes, collision, camera, UI and the Run cycle. Inside your scripts you can still call pygame-ce directly, with autocomplete. The game runs without the editor on the pgstudio runtime, and once exported it becomes a program that doesn’t need Python installed.

Does it run in the browser?

Partly. Browser export exists and is experimental: the Platformer template ran in a browser with keyboard controls. It needs internet to build and to play, and audio and gamepad in the browser have not been tested.

Can I sell a game I make with it?

We can’t give a reliable answer yet. Pygame Studio’s license hasn’t been decided, and an exported game includes the Studio runtime and pygame-ce (which is under the LGPL). This answer will be updated once the license is set. If you plan to sell, wait for that or talk to a lawyer.

Why do macOS and Windows show a warning when I open it?

Because the installers aren’t code signed yet, which requires paid certificates from Apple and for Windows. The app opens normally once you allow it. The steps are on the download page.

Does it work on Windows and Linux?

The installers exist, but they have never been run on those systems. Only Apple Silicon macOS has been tested. They may work or they may not open; if you try one, please share the result.

What doesn’t exist yet?

A debugger with breakpoints, prefabs, rigid body physics, particles, plugins and a profiler. There is also no 3D, network multiplayer or mobile export, and those are not planned for now. See the roadmap and the known issues.

Where does the workflow idea come from?

From how editors like Roblox Studio work: the scene in the middle, the object tree and properties on the side, a script attached to the object and a button to test. The design, the names and the language (Python) are its own.