Stuck in infinite loop and I don't know how to get out of it

Question

I am stuck in an infinite loop but I'm not sure how to get out of it. I am trying to build a clicker game and want an automatic character to deal damage for me. I haven't spent much time refining it all and it's probably messy and inconvenient, but I am a very new coder and want to get some experience.

I tried to make loop equal to 2 and run an identical while loop, however I did that in the if statement when I know it has to be in the while loop. Just can't figure out how to fix it. Any other tips would also be appriciated!

import pygame
from sys import exit

pygame.init()
rotation_angle = 180
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((1080, 900))
clock = pygame.time.Clock()
font1 = pygame.font.Font(None, 50)

monster1 = pygame.image.load("C:/Users/t_cro/OneDrive/Pictures/Saved Pictures/snail1.png")
monster2 = pygame.image.load("C:/Users/t_cro/OneDrive/Pictures/Saved Pictures/fly1.png")
background = pygame.image.load("C:/Users/t_cro/OneDrive/Pictures/Saved Pictures/background.png")
automatic_character_background = pygame.image.load("C:/Users/t_cro/OneDrive/Pictures/Saved Pictures/scrollbackground.png")
automatic_character = pygame.image.load("C:/Users/t_cro/OneDrive/Pictures/Saved Pictures/player_walk_1.png")
background = pygame.transform.scale(background, (1080, 900))
monster1 = pygame.transform.scale(monster1, (125, 75))
monster2 = pygame.transform.scale(monster2, (0, 0))
automatic_character_background = pygame.transform.scale(automatic_character_background, (500, 820))
monster1_health = 10
monster2_health = 10
death_count = 0
money = 0
cost_character_1 = 50
character_1_amount = 0
red = 255,0,0
text_surface = font1.render("number of monsters killed:", True, red)
money_text = font1.render("money:", True, red)
buy_auto_character_1 = font1.render("buy/upgrade (1)", True, red)
monstercheck = 1
while True:
    for event in pygame.event.get():
        if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
            pygame.quit()
            exit()
        if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN:
            if event.key == pygame.K_SPACE and monstercheck == 1:
                monster1_health -= 1
                if monster1_health <= 0:
                    print("wow this code actually works")
                    death_count += 1
                    monster1_health = 10
                    monstercheck = 1
                    money += 10
            if event.key == pygame.K_SPACE and monstercheck == 2:
                monster2_health -= 1
                if monster2_health <= 0:
                    print("how have i not given up yet?")
                    monster2_health = 10
                    death_count += 1
                    monstercheck = 1
                    money += 10
---------------------------------error here-------------------------------------------------------
            if event.key == pygame.K_1 and cost_character_1 <= money:
                character_1_amount += 1
            if character_1_amount >= 1:
                loop = 1
                while loop == 1:
                    dt = clock.tick()
                    time_since_last_hit = dt
                    if time_since_last_hit >= 1000:
                        monster1_health -= character_1_amount
                        time_since_last_hit = 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    death_count_blit = font1.render(str(death_count), True, red)
    money_number = font1.render(str(money), True, red)
    monster1_health_blit = font1.render(str(monster1_health), True, red)
    character_1_amount_blit = font1.render(str(character_1_amount), True, red)
    screen.blit(background, (0, 0))
    screen.blit(monster1, (700, 450))
    screen.blit(monster2, (700, 450))
    screen.blit(death_count_blit, (530, 50))
    screen.blit(text_surface, (330, 13))
    screen.blit(automatic_character_background, (30, 50))
    screen.blit(automatic_character, (75, 175))
    screen.blit(money_text, (125, 97))
    screen.blit(money_number, (250, 100))
    screen.blit(buy_auto_character_1, (150, 200))
    screen.blit(monster1_health_blit, (750, 550))
    screen.blit(character_1_amount_blit, (1,1))
    pygame.display.update()

Answer 1

Which if statement are you using to update the loop variable?

There are two rules for the loop to work properly:

1. You should be able to enter the while loop, which is happening as you have the loop variable equal to 1, which is also your while condition.
2. You should be able to get out of the while loop, which would happen by setting the loop variable to something that is not equal to 1, and this should happen inside the while loop.

As stated in the comment, I do not see the loop variable updating inside the while loop. You need an if condition or something similar that will set the loop variable to something other than 1 so that the loop can finish. I also suggest that you add a print statement inside the while loop and right above the line you update the loop variable to see which lines are executed and which lines are not.