Pygame black screen. Pygame just displays a black screen when i run this on vscode

Question

Pygame black screen. Pygame just displays a black screen when I run this on vscode. What am I doing wrong? My pygame is just showing a blank screen when I run this code. I have searched for solutions but haven't found anything that applies to this scenario.

import pygame

screen_size = [360, 600]
screen = pygame.display.set_mode(screen_size)

background = pygame.image.load('background.jpg')
spaceship = pygame.image.load('spaceship.jpg')
bullet = pygame.image.load('bullet.jpg')
bullet_y = 500
fired = False

planets = ['p_one.jpg', 'p_two.jpg', 'p_three.png']
p_index = 0
planet = pygame.image.load(planets[p_index])
planet_x = 140
move_direction = 'right'

keep_alive = True
clock = pygame.time.Clock()

while keep_alive:
  pygame.event.get()
  keys = pygame.key.get_pressed()
  if keys[pygame.K_SPACE] == True:
    fired = True

  if fired is True:
    bullet_y = bullet_y - 5
    if bullet_y == 50:
      fired = False
      bullet_y = 500

    screen.blit(background, [0, 0])
    screen.blit(bullet, [180, bullet_y])
    screen.blit(spaceship, [160, 500])

    if move_direction == 'right':
      planet_x = planet_x + 5
      if planet_x == 300:
        move_direction = 'left'
    else:
      planet_x = planet_x - 5
      if planet_x == 0:
        move_direction = 'right'

      screen.blit(planet, [planet_x, 50])

      if bullet_y < 80 and planet_x > 120 and planet_x < 180:
        p_index = p_index + 1
        if p_index < len(planets):
          planet = pygame.image.load(planets[p_index])
          planet_x = 10
        else:
       print('YOU WIN')
      keep_alive = False

  pygame.display.update()
  clock.tick(60)

Answer 1

There appear to be indentation issues with your code which prevent your blit operations from occurring unless the space bar has been pressed.

I've reformatted your code minimally to permit operation, I've created coloured squares instead of your images.

import pygame
pygame.init()

screen_size = [360, 600]
screen = pygame.display.set_mode(screen_size)

# background = pygame.image.load('background.jpg')
background = pygame.Surface(screen_size)
background.fill(pygame.Color("grey"))
# spaceship = pygame.image.load('spaceship.jpg')
spaceship = pygame.Surface((30, 30))
spaceship.fill(pygame.Color("blue"))
# bullet = pygame.image.load('bullet.jpg')
bullet = pygame.Surface((10, 10))
bullet.fill(pygame.Color("red"))
bullet_y = 500
fired = False

# planets = ['p_one.jpg', 'p_two.jpg', 'p_three.png']
planets = ["orange", "purple", "aqua"]
p_index = 0
# planet = pygame.image.load(planets[p_index])
planet = pygame.Surface((50, 50))
planet.fill(pygame.Color(planets[p_index]))
planet_x = 140
move_direction = 'right'

keep_alive = True
clock = pygame.time.Clock()

while keep_alive:
    for event in pygame.event.get():
        if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
            keep_alive = False
    keys = pygame.key.get_pressed()
    if keys[pygame.K_SPACE] == True:
        fired = True

    if fired is True:
        bullet_y = bullet_y - 5
        if bullet_y == 50:
            fired = False
            bullet_y = 500

    if move_direction == 'right':
        planet_x = planet_x + 5
        if planet_x == 300:
            move_direction = 'left'
    else:
        planet_x = planet_x - 5
        if planet_x == 0:
            move_direction = 'right'

    if bullet_y < 80 and planet_x > 120 and planet_x < 180:
        p_index = p_index + 1
        if p_index < len(planets):
            # planet = pygame.image.load(planets[p_index])
            planet.fill(pygame.Color(planets[p_index]))

            planet_x = 10
        else:
            print('YOU WIN')
            keep_alive = False
    screen.blit(background, [0, 0])
    screen.blit(bullet, [180, bullet_y])
    screen.blit(spaceship, [160, 500])
    screen.blit(planet, [planet_x, 50])
    pygame.display.update()
    clock.tick(60)

I also fixed the event handler to support a quit event, i.e. closing the window.

Answer 2

This is caused by indentation. And I suggest you turn on the automatic code formatting function in vscode