what happens when the laser sprite touches the asteroid sprite), or different aspects of the game might be triggered (e.g. But it is helpful to think about how different sprites might interact (e.g.
But it's always a good idea to spend some time planning the main elements of your game. Step 9: Debugging Tips and Techniques for Scratch Suppliesįor the most part, Scratch is really flexible allowing you to add different components to your project as you go. Step 8: Advanced Sprite Clones with List Variables Step 7: Using Costumes to Create Animations Step 6: Making Sprites Move - Objects moving in a pattern Step 5: Making Sprites Move - Objects falling at random (asteroids) Step 4: Making Sprites Move - Shooting projectiles (laser) Step 3: Making Sprites Move - Using the keyboard Scratch has a comprehensive list of coding techniques with tutorials which we found helpful and can be found at the Scratch Wiki. Also note that there are many other resources available online. So feel free to jump down to a specific step which describes what you're currently working on. The steps of this Instructable are generally sequential, however they are also written to be independent allowing you to focus on a particular feature you are trying to add to your game. With that in mind, we decided to focus this Instructable on describing steps to code different elements of our game in a general nature, and focus on features we would expect more advanced game developers will be interested in discovering. The challenge though, is that without proper comments in their code, it can at times be tedious to decipher. And there are many other advanced games available on Scratch to learn from. Scratch has a great community that encourages sharing of projects and allows one to "remix" any project that is shared to the public.
They quickly learnt the basic elements of coding as we worked through all the tutorials and then took up the challenge to collaborate and develop their first serious game.įor our game we chose to create a retro-style, space invader themed, laser blasting game called Astro Fleet. My wife and I decided to incorporate the basics of coding into their homeschooling curriculum and we discovered what boundless creativity is wrapped up in the seriously user-friendly coding platform called Scratch. Looking back on the year of 2020, one of the good experiences I will remember, is embarking on a journey of discovering code blocks with my two sons (aged 7 and 9). This Instructable is aimed at someone with a moderate level of experience using the Scratch block-code platform and who is looking to create a slightly more advanced game.