pygame py2app Library not loaded: #loader_path/.dylibs/libSDL-1.2.0.dylib - pygame

Question

I wouldn't call myself a programmer and am unfamiliar with Mac and Linux, so any links or pointers to additional background would help greatly. I've started with the most basic pygame I could google, (from https://realpython.com/pygame-a-primer/). The test.py and test.app runs on my VM but not on anyone else's real Macs.
test.py file
import pygame
pygame.init()
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((400, 300))
done = False
while not done:
for event in pygame.event.get():
if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
done = True
pygame.display.flip()
setup.py file
from setuptools import setup
APP = ['test.py']
DATA_FILES = []
OPTIONS = {}
setup(
app=APP,
data_files=DATA_FILES,
options={'py2app': OPTIONS},
setup_requires=['py2app'],
)
command to create the test.app
$ python3 setup.py py2app
The test.app runs fine on the VM, but whenever the test.app runs on a real Mac (tested 2, one ran on Catalina ver???) this error message appears:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Applications/test.app/Contents/Resources/__boot__.py", line 101, in <module>
_run()
File "/Applications/test.app/Contents/Resources/__boot__.py", line 84, in _run
exec(compile(source, path, "exec"), globals(), globals())
File "/Applications/test.app/Contents/Resources/test.py", line 1, in <module>
import pygame
File "pygame/__init__.pyc", line 120, in <module>
File "pygame/base.pyc", line 14, in <module>
File "pygame/base.pyc", line 10, in __load
File "imp.pyc", line 343, in load_dynamic
ImportError: dlopen(/Applications/test.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.7/lib-dynload/pygame/base.so, 2): Library not loaded: #loader_path/.dylibs/libSDL-1.2.0.dylib
Referenced from: /Applications/test.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.7/lib-dynload/pygame/base.so
Reason: image not found
2020-05-02 11:27:50.309 test[931:15836] test Error
----------------------------
Working environment: VirtualBox 6.1, macOS Sierra (Version 10.12) with the following:
$ pip list
Package Version
----------- ----------
altgraph 0.17
certifi 2020.4.5.1
macholib 1.14
modulegraph 0.18
pip 20.1
py2app 0.21
pygame 1.9.6
setuptools 39.0.1
wheel 0.34.2
$ brew list --versions
freetype 2.10.1
gdbm 1.18.1
jpeg 9d
libmikmod 3.3.11.1
libogg 1.3.4
libpng 1.6.37
libtiff 4.1.0
libvorbis 1.3.6
openssl#1.1 1.1.1g
pkg-config 0.29.2_3
python 3.7.7
readline 8.0.4
sdl 1.2.15_1
sdl2 2.0.12_1
sdl_image 1.2.12_7
sdl_mixer 1.2.12_3
sdl_ttf 2.0.11_1
sqlite 3.31.1
webp 1.1.0
xz 5.2.5
Any ideas or pointers would be greatly appreciated. The actual program is an OhHell card game which supports Windows clients (via pyinstaller), but I'm also trying to support a Mac client to play with my friends on a Mac. Similar to the test.py and test.app (ohhell.py and ohhell.app) runs on the VM Mac but same issue/error occurs with real macs. I've just included the simplest code snippet that I was able to google that reproduced the exact error message.
-john

Answer 1

Workaround Solution: Linking to a dynamic library on a Mac with full path and What path does #loader_path resolve to?. Using the '$ install_name_tool -change "#loader_path/.dylibs/libSDL-1.2.0.dylib" "/Applications/test.app/Contents/Frameworks/libSDL-1.2.0.dylib" base.so' resolved the Library not loaded: loader_path/.dylibs/libSDL-1.2.0.dylib errors. I assume this hard codes the path, but with my friends it's fine to tell them to make sure it resides in the /Applications folder.
However a secondary problem came up, 'pygame.error: File is not a Windows BMP file'. I used py2app, so the pygame delete and reinstall threads didn't seem like a feasible solution (pygame unnecesary w/py2app), so switching the images to uncompressed bitmap (256 colors) worked.
For those curious, I did try Pyinstaller for Mac but that presented a whole new set of problems.