Introduction
The Hangman is a timeless word-guessing game that has captivated audiences for decades. It is a simple, multiplayer pencil-and-paper guessing game.
Hangman is a popular word-guessing game that has been played by both children and adults for years. In this Python project, we replicate the original game in text format. It’s a simple, interesting, and instructional Python project for beginners and advanced programmers. It’s an excellent beginner project that will teach you about string manipulation, functions, loops, conditionals, and how to use Python’s built-in libraries, such as random. Players must locate the unknown words in specific attempts.
The goal of Hangman is to guess the word before your man is hanged. The activity involves one player drawing several dashes equal to the number of letters. The other player begins to guess the letter. If the player fails to guess the word, the fictitious man will be hanged step by step. The guessing player must fill in the dashes with the correct letter to win and save the dangling man. If you guess an erroneous letter, the following step is to hang.
How the Game Works?
- At its foundation, the game operates via a sequence of logical steps:
- Word Selection: The game begins by randomly selecting a word from a list. This word is hidden from the player.
- User Input Loop: The game enters a loop in which the user is continually asked to guess one letter.
- Checking Guesses: After each guess, the game determines whether the guessed letter appears in the hidden word.
- Tracking Progress: Correct guesses are shown in their proper placements in the word, whilst wrong guesses lower the number of remaining attempts.
- Game End Conditions: The game ends when the player correctly answers all of the letters or runs out of attempts.
Skills and Concepts Learned
- This project reinforces some basic programming skills:
- Loops enable continuous user engagement.
- Conditionals: The game validates input and outcomes using if, elif, and else statements.
- String manipulation: The hidden word is exposed gradually using string manipulations.
- Functions: An assistance function reveals the word’s current progress.
- Random Module: Used to randomly select a word from a list.
- Sets are an efficient way to track guessed and leftover letters.
Testing the game
- Before deeming the game complete, it is critical to test many scenarios:
- Guessing all letters accurately.
- Guessing the wrong letter.
- Entering invalid data (e.g., numbers, symbols).
- Attempting to guess the same letter multiple times.
The application should handle each situation gently and guide the gamer correctly.
Possible enhancements
There are various ways to grow or improve the project:
- ASCII Art: Create a visual representation of the hangman with text-based pictures that vary with each incorrect guess.
- Word Categories: Allow the user to select from several word categories such as animals, countries, and programming words.
- Difficulty Levels: Set easy, medium, and hard settings with varying word lengths or fewer/more attempts.
- Use External Files: Keep word lists in external text files for simple expansion.
- Full Word Guess Option: Allows players to guess the entire word at once for added points or risk.
- Graphical Version: Use Python modules such as tkinter or pygame to create a graphical interface for the game.
- Multiplayer Support: One user enters a word, while another attempts to guess it.
How to use this hangman project?
- Download the project and extract the source code.
- Get the code and set up an editor or IDE.
- Open the Python file in an editor.
- Execute the program.
- Play the game.
- Enjoy!
Click the download button below to get the source code for this project.