Python Hangman Game: A Step-by-Step Tutorial

Want to improve your coding capabilities while making something fun? Get ready to dive into creating the classic Hangman game using Python. This project allows you to reinforce fundamental programming concepts, such as loops, conditional statements, and list manipulation, all while building an engaging game that people of all ages can enjoy. This tutorial provides a step-by-step guide, making it ideal for both beginners and experienced programmers looking to expand their skill set or just have a fun and education experience.

Setting Up the Python Environment and Importing Modules

Before starting, make sure you have Python installed on your system. Open your preferred Integrated Development Environment (IDE) or text editor.

The creation of Hangman in Python initiates with importing essential modules. In this project, we’re leveraging two modules: the random module, which helps in randomly selecting a WORD for the user to guess, and a custom words module. Here’s the code to get started:

import words
import random

The random Module: This module provides functions for generating random numbers and making random choices. In our case, we're using random.choice to pick a random word from our word list.

The Custom words Module: This is where we store our word list. Instead of hardcoding the word list directly into our main script, we create a separate file (words.py) containing a list of words. This makes our code more organized and easier to maintain.

How to create a custom words module

1. Create a new file: In the same directory as your main Hangman script, create a file named words.py.
2. Define a word list: Inside words.py, define a list of words like this:

wordList = [
    "people",
    "history",
    "way",
    "art",
    "world",
    "information",
    "map",
    "family",
    # ... add more words here
]

This method promotes a structured approach to programming, making it easier to manage and scale the Game's content. By isolating the word list in a dedicated module, it simplifies future updates and modifications, such as adding more words or categorizing them for different difficulty levels.

Using modules keeps your main Hangman program uncluttered and focused, with responsibilities cleanly divided. It’s a core principle of good software design that pays dividends as projects grow more complex.

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Initializing Game Variables: Word Selection and Encryption

After importing the necessary modules, the next step involves initializing the key variables that will drive the game's logic. This includes selecting a random word and encrypting it.

This process ensures that the player starts with a fresh and unknown challenge each time they play. Key variables for the game, such as number of tries available to player are setup in this step, as well.

Selecting a Random Word:

We use the random.choice function to pick a word randomly from the wordList that is stored in our custom words module. Here's how:

word = random.choice(words.wordList)

Encrypting the Word:

To hide the word from the player, we encrypt it by replacing each letter with an underscore. This gives the player an idea of the length of the word without revealing any letters. Here's the code to encrypt the selected word:

encrypted = ['_'] * len(word)

This line of code creates a list called encrypted where each element is an underscore. The number of underscores matches the number of letters in the selected word. This list will be displayed to the player as they guess letters correctly.

Number of tries:

The code allots the player ten attempts to guess the word before they lose the game.

tries = 10

Here is how all of these variables looks together:

import words
import random

word = random.choice(words.wordList) # Orange
encrypted = ['_'] * len(word)
tries = 10

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Game Logic Implementation: The Main Loop

The heart of the Hangman game lies in its main game loop. This loop continues until the player either guesses the word correctly or runs out of tries.

Within this loop, the game prompts the player for a letter, checks if the letter is in the word, and updates the display accordingly. This section of the game keeps running and prompting user to give an answer unless the tries goes to zero.

The While Loop:

The while loop is used to keep the game running as long as the player has tries remaining:

while tries > 0:
    print(" ".join(encrypted))
    letter = input("Guess a letter: ").lower()

Inside the loop:

• The current state of the encrypted word is printed to the console.
• The player is prompted to guess a letter.
• The input is converted to lowercase to ensure consistency.

Checking the Letter:

    if letter not in word:
        tries -= 1
        print(f"{letter} is not in the word. You have {tries} tries left.")
        if tries == 0:
            print(f"You lost. The word was {word}")
            break

Implementing Failsafe:

To check if the letter guessed by the user was in the random word that was chosen, the following check is performed before the for loop to prevent un-necessary iterations and overheads:

if letter not in word:
        tries -= 1
        print(f"{letter} is not in the word. You have {tries} tries left.")
        if tries == 0:
            print(f"You lost. The word was {word}")
            break

Here is all the code together:

while tries > 0:
    print(" ".join(encrypted))
    letter = input("Guess a letter: ").lower()
    if letter not in word:
        tries -= 1
        print(f"{letter} is not in the word. You have {tries} tries left.")
        if tries == 0:
            print(f"You lost. The word was {word}")
            break

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Revealing Letters: The Enumeration Process

When the player guesses a letter that is in the word, the game needs to reveal all instances of that letter.

This is where the enumerate function comes in handy. It allows us to loop through the word while also keeping track of the index of each letter.

Enumerate:

We use enumerate to loop through the random word while also keeping track of the index of each character. Here's the code:

    for count, wordLetter in enumerate(word):
        if letter == wordLetter:
            encrypted[count] = wordLetter

Displaying the result:

• For correct answer to the guess of player, the print statement shows a message saying, 'Good job! You got that letter correct!'

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Winning the Game: Code Explanation

The code must be able to check whether the player has completed the word correctly. The game congratulates the user on filling out the random word in the list and ends the game. Checking for a Win: After each guess, the game checks if the player has won by comparing the encrypted word with the original word:

    if word == "".join(encrypted):
        print("That was the word! You won!")
        break

• If the encrypted word matches the original word, the player wins.
• A congratulatory message is printed.
• The loop is broken, ending the game.

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Difficulty Levels: Tailoring the Challenge

One way to enhance the game is by implementing different difficulty levels. This can be achieved by categorizing words based on length or complexity and allowing the player to choose a difficulty level at the start of the game.

Here's how you can implement difficulty levels:

• Categorize Words: In your words.py file, create separate lists for easy, medium, and hard words.

easyWords = ["ant", "bat", "cat"]
mediumWords = ["apple", "banana", "orange"]
hardWords = ["algorithm", "programming", "computer"]

• Implement Difficulty Selection: Add code to Prompt the player to choose a difficulty level and select the appropriate word list.

difficulty = input("Choose difficulty (easy, medium, hard): ").lower()
if difficulty == "easy":
    wordList = words.easyWords
elif difficulty == "medium":
    wordList = words.mediumWords
elif difficulty == "hard":
    wordList = words.hardWords
else:
    print("Invalid difficulty, defaulting to medium.")
    wordList = words.mediumWords

word = random.choice(wordList)

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Steps to Execute the Hangman Code

Once you have written the Python code for Hangman, running the game is simple. Follow these steps to start playing:

1. Save Your Code: Save the Hangman code in a file, for example, hangman.py, and the word list in words.py in the same directory.
2. Open Terminal or Command Prompt: Open your terminal or command prompt.
3. Navigate to the Directory: Use the cd command to navigate to the directory where you saved your .py files.
4. Run the Game: Type python hangman.py and press Enter.The game will start, prompting you to guess letters.The encrypted form of the word is shown to the player, and the player is expected to start guessing the letters to fill out the word before running out of their attempts. This process will keep iterating until the player wins, loses, or if an unknown error causes the game to end.