Help getting frame rate (fps) up in Python + Pygame

Question

I am working on a little card-swapping world-travel game that I sort of envision as a cross between Bejeweled and the 10 Days geography board games. So far the coding has been going okay, but the frame rate is pretty bad... currently I'm getting low 20's on my Core 2 Duo. This is a problem since I'm creating the game for Intel's March developer competition, which is squarely aimed at netbooks packing underpowered Atom processors.

Here's a screen from the game:

I am very new to Python and Pygame (this is the first thing I've used them for), and am sadly lacking in formal CS training... which is to say that I think there are probably A LOT of bad practices going on in my code, and A LOT that could be optimized. If some of you older Python hands wouldn't mind taking a look at my code and seeing if you can't find any obvious areas for optimization, I would be extremely grateful.

You can download the full source code here (Python 2.6 + Pygame 1.9): http://www.necessarygames.com/my_games/betraveled/betraveled_src0328.zip

Compiled exe here: www.necessarygames.com/my_games/betraveled/betraveled_src0328.zip

One thing I am concerned about is my event manager, which I feel may have some performance wholes in it, and another thing is my rendering... I'm pretty much just blitting everything to the screen all the time (see the render routines in my game_components.py below); I recently found out that you should only update the areas of the screen that have changed, but I'm still foggy on how that accomplished exactly... could this be a huge performance issue?

Any thoughts are much appreciated! As usual, I'm happy to "tip" you for your time and energy via PayPal.

Jordan



EDIT: Thanks to the advice below, I ran cprofile on my code. It would be great if anyone would be willing to look at this output and let me know what is and what is not to be expected.

Here is the output of p.strip_dirs().sort_stats('cumulative').print_stats():

pydev debugger: starting

Sun Mar 28 04:46:16 2010    cprofile

         8383715 function calls (8264821 primitive calls) in 157.732 CPU seconds

   Ordered by: cumulative time

   ncalls  tottime  percall  cumtime  percall filename:lineno(function)
        1    0.000    0.000  157.732  157.732 <string>:1(<module>)
        1    0.000    0.000  157.732  157.732 main.py:47(main)
        1    0.074    0.074  157.280  157.280 event_manager.py:101(run)
4911/2414   11.837    0.002  156.984    0.065 event_manager.py:32(post)
4786/4681    0.238    0.000   94.852    0.020 rooms.py:251(notify)
     2187    0.523    0.000   51.136    0.023 rooms.py:329(render)
4911/2959    0.220    0.000   35.732    0.012 event_manager.py:54(notify)
     2271   33.996    0.015   33.996    0.015 {pygame.display.update}
     2271    0.060    0.000   23.664    0.010 app.py:178(paint)
37347/2271    1.580    0.000   23.587    0.010 container.py:83(paint)
70236/2271    3.609    0.000   23.448    0.010 theme.py:275(func)
  1078950   16.926    0.000   16.926    0.000 {method 'blit' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
     2187    2.131    0.001   16.875    0.008 game_components.py:666(render)
19635/17756    0.187    0.000   13.852    0.001 game_components.py:641(notify)
   733820    7.710    0.000   13.643    0.000 game_components.py:1151(notify)
     2271   12.254    0.005   12.254    0.005 {pygame.time.wait}
    64112    3.174    0.000   11.252    0.000 game_components.py:1186(render)
        9    0.002    0.000   10.151    1.128 game_components.py:286(deal_new_board)
     1934    0.095    0.000    8.489    0.004 app.py:144(event)
4359/2146    0.178    0.000    8.375    0.004 container.py:112(event)
2335/2146    0.056    0.000    8.251    0.004 widget.py:346(_event)
2335/2146    0.048    0.000    8.193    0.004 theme.py:320(func)
4883/4691    0.018    0.000    8.049    0.002 widget.py:313(send)
      229    0.139    0.001    8.017    0.035 game_components.py:632(refresh_darkness)
     7258    0.499    0.000    7.844    0.001 game_components.py:963(test_close_to_trip)
     2271    7.378    0.003    7.378    0.003 {pygame.display.set_caption}
    19347    3.313    0.000    6.687    0.000 game_components.py:928(get_next_to)
     2187    1.529    0.001    6.629    0.003 game_components.py:130(render)
  2011729    5.938    0.000    5.938    0.000 {isinstance}
        3    0.000    0.000    5.906    1.969 my_gui.py:274(clicked)
   219456    3.060    0.000    5.680    0.000 surface.py:5(subsurface)
     1290    0.506    0.000    5.416    0.004 game_components.py:683(__init__)
     8748    2.891    0.000    5.340    0.001 theme.py:400(render)
    70236    2.232    0.000    4.945    0.000 theme.py:186(box)
     1357    0.097    0.000    4.391    0.003 game_components.py:742(set_image)
        9    0.054    0.006    3.450    0.383 game_components.py:209(deal_connection_matrix)
     8748    0.325    0.000    3.318    0.000 theme.py:479(paint)
     1051    0.015    0.000    3.262    0.003 game_components.py:1232(__init__)
   386467    3.148    0.000    3.148    0.000 {method 'fill' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
   245332    2.470    0.000    3.117    0.000 game_components.py:495(get_card)
    55761    3.068    0.000    3.068    0.000 {pygame.draw.aaline}
     2271    2.968    0.001    2.968    0.001 {pygame.event.get}
        9    0.007    0.001    2.946    0.327 game_components.py:416(clone)
     2187    0.089    0.000    2.717    0.001 misc.py:28(paint)
   803701    2.483    0.000    2.497    0.000 weakref.py:302(iterkeys)
     2739    2.441    0.001    2.441    0.001 {pygame.imageext.load_extended}
     1470    1.108    0.001    2.432    0.002 game_components.py:450(set_pos)
       29    0.029    0.001    2.270    0.078 game_components.py:433(clear)
        2    0.000    0.000    2.158    1.079 main.py:22(set_room)
4911/4862    0.027    0.000    2.141    0.000 main.py:37(notify)
        1    0.000    0.000    2.099    2.099 my_gui.py:164(clicked)
        1    0.001    0.001    2.099    2.099 rooms.py:117(__init__)
     1120    0.039    0.000    1.978    0.002 game_components.py:484(place_card)
       27    0.013    0.000    1.963    0.073 game_components.py:339(merge_board_stack)
      311    0.018    0.000    1.939    0.006 game_components.py:443(remove)
      125    0.007    0.000    1.848    0.015 rooms.py:18(notify)
      224    0.003    0.000    1.806    0.008 game_components.py:721(clone)
   219456    1.638    0.000    1.638    0.000 {method 'subsurface' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
      183    0.004    0.000    1.313    0.007 game_components.py:1240(__init__)
     4374    0.106    0.000    1.224    0.000 button.py:97(paint)
    46765    0.967    0.000    1.137    0.000 game_components.py:784(set_pos)
      229    0.109    0.000    1.111    0.005 game_components.py:594(refresh_trip)
     4076    1.076    0.000    1.076    0.000 {method 'convert_alpha' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
        9    0.015    0.002    1.018    0.113 game_components.py:542(displace_cards)
    17496    0.360    0.000    0.953    0.000 basic.py:102(paint)
    66299    0.948    0.000    0.948    0.000 {pygame.draw.rect}
     1357    0.024    0.000    0.945    0.001 game_components.py:736(set_text)
     1357    0.052    0.000    0.917    0.001 game_components.py:841(render_text_rec)
     5815    0.455    0.000    0.881    0.000 game_components.py:1108(get_connections)
     6610    0.869    0.000    0.869    0.000 {method 'replace' of 'pygame.PixelArray' objects}
       56    0.001    0.000    0.861    0.015 game_components.py:1252(__init__)
       10    0.001    0.000    0.857    0.086 game_components.py:377(__init__)
      540    0.484    0.001    0.828    0.002 game_components.py:613(refresh_connections)
   189431    0.730    0.000    0.730    0.000 game_components.py:500(test_index_on_board)
   161329    0.632    0.000    0.727    0.000 matrix.py:33(__iter__)
   309968    0.710    0.000    0.710    0.000 {method 'get_width' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
   308567    0.675    0.000    0.675    0.000 {method 'get_height' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
   109626    0.646    0.000    0.670    0.000 style.py:18(__getattr__)
   241697    0.646    0.000    0.646    0.000 matrix.py:24(getitem)
    21084    0.601    0.000    0.601    0.000 {method 'render' of 'pygame.font.Font' objects}
      327    0.006    0.000    0.580    0.002 game_components.py:490(place_card_first_time)
       26    0.001    0.000    0.561    0.022 game_components.py:1259(__init__)
      166    0.002    0.000    0.536    0.003 game_components.py:608(get_longest_trip)
 1491/166    0.075    0.000    0.534    0.003 game_components.py:989(get_longest_trip)
     5702    0.533    0.000    0.533    0.000 {method 'size' of 'pygame.font.Font' objects}
        1    0.000    0.000    0.478    0.478 game_components.py:141(__init__)
        1    0.001    0.001    0.478    0.478 game_components.py:165(rebuild)
       67    0.005    0.000    0.457    0.007 game_components.py:713(change_size)
        1    0.001    0.001    0.420    0.420 game_components.py:347(change_card_size)
 1210/166    0.044    0.000    0.412    0.002 game_components.py:982(add_to_trip)
     7654    0.275    0.000    0.405    0.000 game_components.py:938(get_bounding_box)
    14969    0.101    0.000    0.385    0.000 game_components.py:1305(render)
   149709    0.341    0.000    0.341    0.000 {method 'append' of 'list' objects}
    87958    0.341    0.000    0.341    0.000 {hasattr}
     1362    0.068    0.000    0.336    0.000 textrect.py:12(render_textrect)
       30    0.001    0.000    0.301    0.010 game_components.py:1282(__init__)
    47795    0.257    0.000    0.257    0.000 game_components.py:1024(test_connection)
    14849    0.098    0.000    0.251    0.000 my_gui.py:209(notify)
    17498    0.158    0.000    0.242    0.000 basic.py:22(is_color)
    87480    0.224    0.000    0.224    0.000 {method 'set_clip' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
        9    0.003    0.000    0.209    0.023 game_components.py:279(deal_to_blank_squares)
        1    0.114    0.114    0.208    0.208 {pygame.display.set_mode}
    56617    0.206    0.000    0.206    0.000 game_components.py:837(get_center)
       84    0.005    0.000    0.206    0.002 rooms.py:110(render)

Here is the output of p.strip_dirs().sort_stats('time').print_stats():

Sun Mar 28 04:46:16 2010    cprofile

         8383715 function calls (8264821 primitive calls) in 157.732 CPU seconds

   Ordered by: internal time

   ncalls  tottime  percall  cumtime  percall filename:lineno(function)
     2271   33.996    0.015   33.996    0.015 {pygame.display.update}
  1078950   16.926    0.000   16.926    0.000 {method 'blit' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
     2271   12.254    0.005   12.254    0.005 {pygame.time.wait}
4911/2414   11.837    0.002  156.984    0.065 event_manager.py:32(post)
   733820    7.710    0.000   13.643    0.000 game_components.py:1151(notify)
     2271    7.378    0.003    7.378    0.003 {pygame.display.set_caption}
  2011729    5.938    0.000    5.938    0.000 {isinstance}
70236/2271    3.609    0.000   23.448    0.010 theme.py:275(func)
    19347    3.313    0.000    6.687    0.000 game_components.py:928(get_next_to)
    64112    3.174    0.000   11.252    0.000 game_components.py:1186(render)
   386467    3.148    0.000    3.148    0.000 {method 'fill' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
    55761    3.068    0.000    3.068    0.000 {pygame.draw.aaline}
   219456    3.060    0.000    5.680    0.000 surface.py:5(subsurface)
     2271    2.968    0.001    2.968    0.001 {pygame.event.get}
     8748    2.891    0.000    5.340    0.001 theme.py:400(render)
   803701    2.483    0.000    2.497    0.000 weakref.py:302(iterkeys)
   245332    2.470    0.000    3.117    0.000 game_components.py:495(get_card)
     2739    2.441    0.001    2.441    0.001 {pygame.imageext.load_extended}
    70236    2.232    0.000    4.945    0.000 theme.py:186(box)
     2187    2.131    0.001   16.875    0.008 game_components.py:666(render)
   219456    1.638    0.000    1.638    0.000 {method 'subsurface' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
37347/2271    1.580    0.000   23.587    0.010 container.py:83(paint)
     2187    1.529    0.001    6.629    0.003 game_components.py:130(render)
     1470    1.108    0.001    2.432    0.002 game_components.py:450(set_pos)
     4076    1.076    0.000    1.076    0.000 {method 'convert_alpha' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
    46765    0.967    0.000    1.137    0.000 game_components.py:784(set_pos)
    66299    0.948    0.000    0.948    0.000 {pygame.draw.rect}
     6610    0.869    0.000    0.869    0.000 {method 'replace' of 'pygame.PixelArray' objects}
   189431    0.730    0.000    0.730    0.000 game_components.py:500(test_index_on_board)
   309968    0.710    0.000    0.710    0.000 {method 'get_width' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
   308567    0.675    0.000    0.675    0.000 {method 'get_height' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
   109626    0.646    0.000    0.670    0.000 style.py:18(__getattr__)
   241697    0.646    0.000    0.646    0.000 matrix.py:24(getitem)
   161329    0.632    0.000    0.727    0.000 matrix.py:33(__iter__)
    21084    0.601    0.000    0.601    0.000 {method 'render' of 'pygame.font.Font' objects}
     5702    0.533    0.000    0.533    0.000 {method 'size' of 'pygame.font.Font' objects}
     2187    0.523    0.000   51.136    0.023 rooms.py:329(render)
     1290    0.506    0.000    5.416    0.004 game_components.py:683(__init__)
     7258    0.499    0.000    7.844    0.001 game_components.py:963(test_close_to_trip)
      540    0.484    0.001    0.828    0.002 game_components.py:613(refresh_connections)
     5815    0.455    0.000    0.881    0.000 game_components.py:1108(get_connections)
    17496    0.360    0.000    0.953    0.000 basic.py:102(paint)
   149709    0.341    0.000    0.341    0.000 {method 'append' of 'list' objects}
    87958    0.341    0.000    0.341    0.000 {hasattr}
     8748    0.325    0.000    3.318    0.000 theme.py:479(paint)
     7654    0.275    0.000    0.405    0.000 game_components.py:938(get_bounding_box)
    47795    0.257    0.000    0.257    0.000 game_components.py:1024(test_connection)
4786/4681    0.238    0.000   94.852    0.020 rooms.py:251(notify)
    87480    0.224    0.000    0.224    0.000 {method 'set_clip' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
4911/2959    0.220    0.000   35.732    0.012 event_manager.py:54(notify)
    56617    0.206    0.000    0.206    0.000 game_components.py:837(get_center)
        1    0.200    0.200    0.200    0.200 {pygame.base.quit}
19635/17756    0.187    0.000   13.852    0.001 game_components.py:641(notify)
        1    0.184    0.184    0.184    0.184 {pygame.base.init}
4359/2146    0.178    0.000    8.375    0.004 container.py:112(event)
    17498    0.158    0.000    0.242    0.000 basic.py:22(is_color)
     1358    0.151    0.000    0.151    0.000 {pygame.transform.smoothscale}
      229    0.139    0.001    8.017    0.035 game_components.py:632(refresh_darkness)
        1    0.114    0.114    0.208    0.208 {pygame.display.set_mode}
    37862    0.112    0.000    0.112    0.000 {method 'set_alpha' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
     6561    0.111    0.000    0.195    0.000 button.py:236(paint)
      229    0.109    0.000    1.111    0.005 game_components.py:594(refresh_trip)
     4374    0.106    0.000    1.224    0.000 button.py:97(paint)
    14969    0.101    0.000    0.385    0.000 game_components.py:1305(render)
    14849    0.098    0.000    0.251    0.000 my_gui.py:209(notify)
     1357    0.097    0.000    4.391    0.003 game_components.py:742(set_image)
    24072    0.096    0.000    0.096    0.000 game_components.py:913(test_pos_on_card)
     4926    0.095    0.000    0.132    0.000 game_components.py:1292(__init__)
    33286    0.095    0.000    0.095    0.000 {range}
     1934    0.095    0.000    8.489    0.004 app.py:144(event)
     2187    0.089    0.000    2.717    0.001 misc.py:28(paint)
     2135    0.087    0.000    0.091    0.000 matrix.py:21(setitem)
     4374    0.076    0.000    0.131    0.000 button.py:182(paint)
 1491/166    0.075    0.000    0.534    0.003 game_components.py:989(get_longest_trip)
        1    0.074    0.074  157.280  157.280 event_manager.py:101(run)
      301    0.069    0.000    0.107    0.000 game_components.py:508(clear_selection)
     1362    0.068    0.000    0.336    0.000 textrect.py:12(render_textrect)
     2227    0.066    0.000    0.150    0.000 game_components.py:809(move)
     5740    0.062    0.000    0.165    0.000 misc.py:34(__setattr__)
     2271    0.060    0.000   23.664    0.010 app.py:178(paint)
2335/2146    0.056    0.000    8.251    0.004 widget.py:346(_event)
     4786    0.055    0.000    0.099    0.000 game_components.py:97(notify)
        9    0.054    0.006    3.450    0.383 game_components.py:209(deal_connection_matrix)
     1357    0.052    0.000    0.917    0.001 game_components.py:841(render_text_rec)
        5    0.052    0.010    0.052    0.010 {method 'convert' of 'pygame.Surface' objects}
2335/2146    0.048    0.000    8.193    0.004 theme.py:320(func)
 1210/166    0.044    0.000    0.412    0.002 game_components.py:982(add_to_trip)
     1120    0.039    0.000    1.978    0.002 game_components.py:484(place_card)
 2871/465    0.037    0.000    0.070    0.000 container.py:77(reupdate)
    11862    0.037    0.000    0.037    0.000 {method 'collidepoint' of 'pygame.Rect' objects}
13602/13558    0.035    0.000    0.035    0.000 {len}
     4493    0.035    0.000    0.047    0.000 button.py:71(__setattr__)

Here are some bits of the source:

Main.py

#Remote imports
import pygame
from pygame.locals import *

#Local imports
import config
import rooms
from event_manager import *
from events import *

class RoomController(object):
    """Controls which room is currently active (eg Title Screen)"""

    def __init__(self, screen, ev_manager):
        self.room = None
        self.screen = screen
        self.ev_manager = ev_manager
        self.ev_manager.register_listener(self)
        self.room = self.set_room(config.room)

    def set_room(self, room_const):
        #Unregister old room from ev_manager
        if self.room:
            self.room.ev_manager.unregister_listener(self.room)
            self.room = None
        #Set new room based on const
        if room_const == config.TITLE_SCREEN:
            return rooms.TitleScreen(self.screen, self.ev_manager)
        elif room_const == config.GAME_MODE_ROOM:
            return rooms.GameModeRoom(self.screen, self.ev_manager)        
        elif room_const == config.GAME_ROOM:
            return rooms.GameRoom(self.screen, self.ev_manager)
        elif room_const == config.HIGH_SCORES_ROOM:
            return rooms.HighScoresRoom(self.screen, self.ev_manager)

    def notify(self, event):
        if isinstance(event, ChangeRoomRequest):
            if event.game_mode:
                config.game_mode = event.game_mode            
            self.room = self.set_room(event.new_room)

    def render(self, surface):
        self.room.render(surface)

#Run game 
def main():
    pygame.init()
    screen = pygame.display.set_mode(config.screen_size)

    ev_manager = EventManager()
    spinner = CPUSpinnerController(ev_manager)
    room_controller = RoomController(screen, ev_manager)    
    pygame_event_controller = PyGameEventController(ev_manager)

    spinner.run()


# this runs the main function if this script is called to run.
#  If it is imported as a module, we don't run the main function.
if __name__ == "__main__": 
    main()

event_manager.py

#Remote imports
import pygame
from pygame.locals import *

#Local imports
import config
from events import *

def debug( msg ):
    print "Debug Message: " + str(msg)

class EventManager:

    #This object is responsible for coordinating most communication
    #between the Model, View, and Controller.
    def __init__(self):
        from weakref import WeakKeyDictionary
        self.listeners = WeakKeyDictionary()
        self.eventQueue= []
        self.gui_app = None

    #----------------------------------------------------------------------
    def register_listener(self, listener):
        self.listeners[listener] = 1

    #----------------------------------------------------------------------
    def unregister_listener(self, listener):
        if listener in self.listeners:
            del self.listeners[listener]

    #----------------------------------------------------------------------
    def post(self, event):
        if  isinstance(event, MouseButtonLeftEvent):
            debug(event.name)
        #NOTE: copying the list like this before iterating over it, EVERY tick, is highly inefficient,
        #but currently has to be done because of how new listeners are added to the queue while it is running
        #(eg when popping cards from a deck). Should be changed. See: http://dr0id.homepage.bluewin.ch/pygame_tutorial08.html
        #and search for "Watch the iteration"
        for listener in list(self.listeners):
            #NOTE: If the weakref has died, it will be 
            #automatically removed, so we don't have 
            #to worry about it.
            listener.notify(event)

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
class PyGameEventController:
    """..."""
    def __init__(self, ev_manager):
        self.ev_manager = ev_manager
        self.ev_manager.register_listener(self) 
        self.input_freeze = False

    #----------------------------------------------------------------------
    def notify(self, incoming_event):

        if isinstance(incoming_event, UserInputFreeze):
            self.input_freeze = True

        elif isinstance(incoming_event, UserInputUnFreeze):
            self.input_freeze = False        

        elif isinstance(incoming_event, TickEvent):

            #Share some time with other processes, so we don't hog the cpu
            pygame.time.wait(5)

            #Handle Pygame Events
            for event in pygame.event.get():
                #If this event manager has an associated PGU GUI app, notify it of the event
                if self.ev_manager.gui_app:
                    self.ev_manager.gui_app.event(event)
                #Standard event handling for everything else
                ev = None
                if event.type == QUIT:
                    ev = QuitEvent()
                elif event.type == pygame.MOUSEBUTTONDOWN and not self.input_freeze:
                    if event.button == 1:    #Button 1
                        pos = pygame.mouse.get_pos()
                        ev = MouseButtonLeftEvent(pos)
                elif event.type == pygame.MOUSEMOTION:
                        pos = pygame.mouse.get_pos()
                        ev = MouseMoveEvent(pos)

                #Post event to event manager
                if ev:
                    self.ev_manager.post(ev)                          

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------            
class CPUSpinnerController:

    def __init__(self, ev_manager):
        self.ev_manager = ev_manager
        self.ev_manager.register_listener(self)
        self.clock = pygame.time.Clock()
        self.cumu_time = 0

        self.keep_going = True


    #----------------------------------------------------------------------
    def run(self):
        if not self.keep_going:
            raise Exception('dead spinner')        
        while self.keep_going: 
            time_passed = self.clock.tick()
            fps = self.clock.get_fps()
            self.cumu_time += time_passed
            self.ev_manager.post(TickEvent(time_passed, fps))

            if self.cumu_time >= 1000:
                self.cumu_time = 0
                self.ev_manager.post(SecondEvent())

        pygame.quit()


    #----------------------------------------------------------------------
    def notify(self, event):
        if isinstance(event, QuitEvent):
            #this will stop the while loop from running
            self.keep_going = False            

rooms.py

#Remote imports
import pygame

#Local imports
import config
import continents
from game_components import *
from my_gui import *
from pgu import high

class Room(object):

    def __init__(self, screen, ev_manager):
        self.screen = screen
        self.ev_manager = ev_manager
        self.ev_manager.register_listener(self)

    def notify(self, event):
        if isinstance(event, TickEvent): 
            pygame.display.set_caption('FPS: ' + str(int(event.fps)))         
            self.render(self.screen) 
            pygame.display.update()


    def get_highs_table(self):
        fname = 'high_scores.txt'
        highs_table = None
        config.all_highs = high.Highs(fname)
        if config.game_mode == config.TIME_CHALLENGE:
            if config.difficulty == config.EASY:
                highs_table = config.all_highs['time_challenge_easy']
            if config.difficulty == config.MED_DIF:
                highs_table = config.all_highs['time_challenge_med']
            if config.difficulty == config.HARD:
                highs_table = config.all_highs['time_challenge_hard']
            if config.difficulty == config.SUPER:
                highs_table = config.all_highs['time_challenge_super']                  
        elif config.game_mode == config.PLAN_AHEAD:
            pass     
        return highs_table

class TitleScreen(Room):

    def __init__(self, screen, ev_manager):
        Room.__init__(self, screen, ev_manager)

        self.background = pygame.image.load('assets/images/interface/background.jpg').convert()      
        #Initialize
        #---------------------------------------
        self.gui_form = gui.Form()
        self.gui_app = gui.App(config.gui_theme)
        self.ev_manager.gui_app = self.gui_app
        c = gui.Container(align=0,valign=0)        

        #Quit Button
        #---------------------------------------
        b = StartGameButton(ev_manager=self.ev_manager)
        c.add(b, 0, 0)    
        self.gui_app.init(c)


    def render(self, surface):
        surface.blit(self.background, (0, 0))
        #GUI
        self.gui_app.paint(surface)            

class GameModeRoom(Room):

    def __init__(self, screen, ev_manager):
        Room.__init__(self, screen, ev_manager)

        self.background = pygame.image.load('assets/images/interface/background.jpg').convert()      
        self.create_gui()

    #Create pgu gui elements
    def create_gui(self):
        #Setup
        #---------------------------------------
        self.gui_form = gui.Form()
        self.gui_app = gui.App(config.gui_theme)
        self.ev_manager.gui_app = self.gui_app
        c = gui.Container(align=0,valign=-1)        

        #Mode Relaxed Button
        #---------------------------------------
        b = GameModeRelaxedButton(ev_manager=self.ev_manager)
        self.b = b
        print b.rect

Answer 1

Let events come to you with event.wait

Do you really need to do processing every tick? If not, use pygame.event.wait for your event loop to only process when an event comes in, and pygame.time.set_timer if you need periodic events like your SecondEvent.

This means you won't be drawing many frames during seconds when events aren't coming in, but that's okay. Using event.wait will decrease CPU usage and let you still be responsive, and likely removes the need for the time.wait you have in there instead.

Don't re-draw the entire board from scratch every tick

Don't have Room.render blit the background every time, which means then it has to go through and re-draw the entire board and all the cards. Do that once. Then don't have cards re-render themselves unless they changed darkness or they're moving.

When cards are moving, you should be able to restore the background by blitting just a chunk of the background graphic instead of the whole thing.

Pass a rectangle list to display.update

Once you're only updating certain areas, you can pass those areas to display.update so it doesn't have to update the whole screen. For an example, see the Solarwolf code and how it marks dirty rectangles.

Answer 2

On your profile results:

I recently found out that you should only update the areas of the screen that have changed, but I'm still foggy on how that accomplished exactly... could this be a huge performance issue?

Yes. display.update and Surface.blit are at the top of your profile results. You did over a million blits, in about 5000 ticks, which works out to 200 blits every tick.

Also, sixth on your profile results is display.set_caption, which I guess is the display of the FPS counter itself? At 7 seconds of 157, this isn't your major hotspot, but still interesting to know.