LF Make a game with levels

Mar 232023
 
  1. Use your Scratch Games Toolkit project (hide some spirtes) or start a new project

1 Main character movement

  • For platform game, use 4, 6 and 7
  • For two player game, add another sprite with different key controls

2 Add obstacles and/or baddies

  • Moving baddies 8, 13, 14
  • Make character react to baddy: 9
  • Could also have stationary baddies to avoid touching

3 Next level / game over

4 Coins / lives / points

Y6 LF Create a blackout game

Mar 152023
 
  1. Start a new project (or save a copy of your test project)
  2. Come up with an idea for a game called “Blackout” about a city in the Blitz – think of:
    • The aim – work through levels, get to as many houses and black them out,
    • what characters and backgrounds you will need – main character, enemies – ARP, spies, dogs,
    • controls – keyboard, mouse, 1 player/2 player
    • lives, coins, points, timed
    • levels
  3. Use blocks from Scratch Games Toolkit

Week 1:

  • Make spirtes – characters, doors, coins, movin objects….,
  • Make backgrounds – intro screen, game over, levels
  • Add variables for points, lives
  • Add messages for game states
  • Code ontrols and movement – ketboard controls, gravity, jumping….

Week2:

  • Code interaction between sprites
  • Losing lives, gaining points, changing levels

Y6 Scratch game toolkit

Mar 092023
 

Task 1 – Sign in to class account

  1. Go to Scratch
  2. Sign in: SM-Pine23 SM-Spruce23 SM-Willow23 (listen for the password)
  3. Then “Create”. “File – Load from your computer”
  4. Load your file from ast time, saved in Google Drive
  5. Rename your project with just your name

Task 2 – Games toolkit project

  • Finish working through Scratch Games Toolkit so your project includes everything on it
  • You will need different sprites and some different keyboard controls

Task 3 – Customise

  • We are going to create a game called “Blackout” about WW2 in the Blitz. Make sprites and backgrounds in your Gaems toolkit project suitable for this theme
  • You could:
    • edit existing sprite costumes
    • draw your own
    • search for images to use, save then upload into sprite costumes
  • WARNING – if you get rid of a sprite, it gets rid of all the code too. So just add and remove costumes, not whole sprites.
  • Some ideas: ARP warden, boy/girl character (could be same sprite and player decides who to play as), doors, ration book, houses, cars, street lights, …

Scratch game toolkit

Feb 232023
 

Character movement

1 Walking animation

2 Follow mouse

3 Keyboard controls (up down left right arrow keys)

For a maze: change each one like this:

(If it bmps into the wall, it bounces back in the opposite direction)  Same idea works for other movelment controls.

4 Keyboard controls (left-right)

5 Keyboard controls (forward and steer)

6 Jump

7 Gravity and platforms

Baddies

8 Follow a set path

Drag the sprite to each point before you choose each block

13 Random falling ovjects

 

14 Randomly timed objects

9 Sprite reacts to another sprite

I’ve made mine hide, but you could go bck to start, lose a life, score a point…

Next level/ game over

10 Door to next level

 

11 Game over

Coins / points / lives

12 Collect coins

15 Timer 

Challenges

  1. Theme your project for a game called “Blackout” bu changing costumes and backgrounds.
  2. Come up with an idea for a game about the blackout – think of the sim, what characters and backgrounds you will need, controls, 1 player/2 player, lives, coins, levels, points, whether it is timed,

Y6 LF Combining toolkit blocks to make your game

Apr 042022
 
  • 1 Work on game
  • 2 Try each other’s games
  • 3 Evaluate your skills

1 Work on game

1 Work on game

  1. Work on your own or as a team – everyone needs to be actively coding and contributing.
  2. Create all sprites (characters, buttons, doors, objects) and backgrounds that you need – even if they are just sketches
  3. Choose which Scratch game toolkit blocks you need for your game.
  4. Adapt them to change timings, actions, triggers to suit your game.
    1. Movement of main character
    2. Movement of enemies/other characters
    3. Reaction to other sprites – enemies, doors, coins
      1. new background, respawn, hide,…
      2. Make sure these reverrt back “when green flag clicked”, eg “show”
    4. Scores, lives, timers
    5. Game complete/over
  5. Variables – if you have lives, score, timer…create variables for these. Remember to set them at the beginning (when green flag clicked) then change them when something happens.

Success: I have –

  • Chosen blocks of code to make my game happen
  • Created all sprites and backgrounds needed
  • Read code to check what I’ve told it to do

2 Try each other’s games

  • Compliment
  • Compare
  • Be Constructive

3 Evaluate your skills

Scratch self assessment

Y6 Scratch game – use game toolkit

Mar 182022
 
  • Visit this blog post: Scratch game toolkit
  • Try out any blocks that you might use in your game
  • Can you adapt them to change timings, actions, triggers?
  • Are there any other actions that you need to code?
    • Can you work it out?
    • Do you need some help?
      • Other people in your class?
      • Help sheets?
      • Example code (in j2e, shared files, your class)
      • Scratch tutorials? Scratch forums?
      • Mr W?

Success: I have –

  • Made 3 different blocks of code (each person)
  • Made all sprites and backgrounds (may be sketches/blank) as a group
  • Decided as a group on what happens in the game

Y6 Create a Scratch game

Feb 272022
 

Young coders competition

This year’s theme is ‘My World, Our Planet’. We are looking for participants to create a reactive game which encourages children to take care of natural resources and improve the environment. The opportunities are endless and you are in charge of creativity!
Think about the content of your game, we are looking for something engaging, fun, interactive and reactive!

Project pack
  • You can enter individually or as a team of 2-6. 
  • You must design a reactive computer game using Scratch based on the theme My World our Planet
  • The game needs to comply to the PEGI 7 rating. More details on the PEGI rating system can be found via the PEGI website below: What do the labels mean?
  • After you have finished making your game, you must submit it to your teacher. Make sure instructions for the game, notes and credits are included. 
  • To submit your game you need your teacher to submit it here with your name, team name and a link to your Scratch game.

The judging criteria are as follows:

Functionality and innovation (50%)Marketing (25%)Community responsibility (25%)
Does the game work as intended?Is the game easy to use?Is the game imaginative?Is the game reactive?Does the game include original and well written code?Aesthetics of the game – Does the game display correctly and look nice?Creativity and design of your game’s namePresentation of your game Is your game accessible for its target audience? I.e., is it suitable for the age range you built it for?How does your game address the theme of Keeping yourself and others safe?

Idea generation

  1. Look at different types of games that can be made with Scratch – scroller, platform, maze, choice – can you find or think of any other types?
  2. Come up with some ideas of games to fit the theme – the more ideas, the better
  3. Share ideas with others, form teams or decide to work on your own.

Next steps…

  • Create game brief/plan
  • Decompose elements
  • Decompose code

LF Decompose your game idea

  1. Fill out this form: Y6 Scratch game
  2. If time, start to create characters and backgrounds in Scratch
    1. If you are working in a team, how can we transfer sprites from team members to the project?
    2. Do shared class accounts work?

Term 4 Computing

Feb 222021
 

Here are some Computing and other activities for this term.

  1. Y3 Create a safari scene in Scratch
  2. Y4 Create a Roman maze game in Scratch
  3. Y5 Create a jungle game piece by piece
  4. Y6 Create a WW2 Blackout game in Scratch

Other Computing skills

Use Computing in other subjects

  • Create a Coggle mind map of your topic (See Y5T5 unit)
  • Create an animation using JIT5, Scratch, Gifpaint or an phone/tablet animation app – see Y4 animated story unit
  • Use j2e5 templates or visual tools to explore ideas in your topic or complete topic work set by your teachers.
  • Install Google Expeditions  on a phone or tablet and explore places related to your topics

Other activities

  •     Thinking starters – great for getting your brain going.  Learning Zone leave a comment with your ideas.
  •   Zooniverse – people-powered research – take part in real scientific research on a range of projects
  •    #DoGoodFromHome!

Y6: Scratch Blackout Game

Feb 252020
 

We are going to make a WW2 Blackout game

LF1 Computational Thinking

LF2 Game brief – decompose

A game company would like you to make a WW2 blackout themed computer game featuring, the landscape of a UK city threatened by the Blitz.  The aim is to put up blackout curtains in the daytime before nightfall so that the bombers will pass harmlessly overhead during the night.  Successive screen will become harder with more windows to cover and bigger buildings.  Wardens will be patrolling.  You may have to find or buy blackout material.  Depending on how completely you blackout the city, bombs will fall.  How long can you keep your city from being destroyed – a percentage score could drop after each night of bombing….

  • Work through CT principles for the brief
    • 1 Don’t panic – understand the problem
      • Questions and answers, notes
    • 2 Break it down (decomposition)
      • Make a list of characters, backgrounds, objects
      • What do each need to do?
      • Make a list of simple steps – these need to be as small as possible
    • 3 Use your knowledge and experience
      • In Scratch – remind yourselves of the different types of blocks and what they do
    • 4 Create a plan (algorithm)
      • Take your steps from stage 2 one at a time and use Scratch blocks to code them
    • 5 Try it!
      • Test it out often
    • 6 Evaluate
      • What works?  What do you need to change? Tinker

Here is an example of decomposing – just looking at the main character, break it down into what we will need to code:

LF3 Drawing sprites, costumes and backgrounds

  • Refer to your notes from last week  (in j2e – Scratch Blackout Game)
  • Draw new sprites and costumes
  • Draw the background
  • By the end of the lesson, you must have at least a sketch of every sprite, costume and background.

Example video 2

LF3: Triggers and actions

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step ~ Ancient Chinese proverb

Take one single simple idea at a time and turn it into Scratch code.

For every thing you want to happen, there are two parts

  • Trigger – what sets it off
  • Action – what the consequence is

Examples of triggers:

  • Beginning of the game  
  • When keys are pressed 
  • When one object touches another object 
  • When one sprite touches a colour
  • When a play button clicked  
  • Other examples in Events blocks

Examples of actions

  • Turn the background dark (night time approaching) – repeat, change brightness effect by -10, wait 1 second
  • Sprite walking – forever, costume 1, costume 2
  • Keyboard controls move right – when right arrow pressed, change x by 5
  • Bomb dropping – go to random position, set y to (top of page), repeat 20, change y by -10
  • Bomb exploding – next costume, play sound

Example video 3

LF4 One step at a time

  1. Keep working on little bits of coding
  2. Feedback – How did that go? form
    1. List what you have coded, eg boy steps, keyboard controls, bomb drops

Y6 LF Code a Scratch game (3)

Apr 252019
 
  1. Darkness
    1. variable counting down
    2. Background brightness effect
  2. Movement
    1. follow mouse?
    2. arrow keys?
    3. left-right-jump? (+ platforms?)
  3. Lights out
  4. Disable movement at 0

Computational thinking

  1. Don’t panic! Understand the problem
    1. Game brief
    2. Q and A
  2. Simplify! (decomposition)
    1. Pick ONE part at a time
      1. Sky going dark
      2. Sprite moving UDLR
      3. Turn off lights when touched by sprite
  3. De ja vu?
    1. Have we done anything similar before?
    2. What Scratch blocks do you remember?
  4. Create a plan – algorithm
  5. Have a go…!

Game brief

A game company would like you to make a WW2 blackout themed computer game featuring, the landscape of a UK city threatened by the Blitz.  The aim is to put up blackout curtains in the daytime before nightfall so that the bombers will pass harmlessly overhead during the night.  Successive screen will become harder with more windows to cover and bigger buildings.  Wardens will be patrolling.  You may have to find or buy blackout material.  Depending on how completely you blackout the city, bombs will fall.  How long can you keep your city from being destroyed – a percentage score could drop after each night of bombing….

 

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