Allan Didier

CS Intermediate Programming Projects (Scratch)

Skill Level

These projects are for students who are comfortable with block-style programming and want to create their own block-style programming game. 

Getting Started

We will use Scratch as an online game engine for these projects. Scratch is a great beginner game design site that uses block-style programming. It is an open-ended site, so it won’t walk you through things like code.org. Before you start creating a game, you need to decide what type of game you are going to create. Do you want to create a platformer, endless runner, maze runner, shooter,  or racing game? Would you rather create more of an art, music or story telling game? If you don’t know, explore some of the games created by other people in Scratch for ideas.

Tips and Tutorials

Scratch’s Activity Guide tutorials can help you learn how to do various beginner things, like sprite movement, flying, animation, etc. If you are running Scratch through a web browser and it is running slow, you might try downloading Scratch and running it from the machine. There are version for Windows, Mac, the Chromebook, and Android. Check the Download Scratch link for more information. Once you have started your game, how will Mr. Didier or other people play my game? Check here for how to submit your Scratch project to Google Classroom. 

Projects

Once you decide what type of game you will create, how will you start creating your game. There is no right or wrong way to begin, but you should have a plan on how to proceed. Below are my suggestions on how to start creating your game. Start your game by getting your sprite character to move under user control.

Students will learn to program a sprite character to move around under user control. Choose a sprite character for your game. Program the sprite to move under user control. The more complex the motion, the better your grade.

Read the Character Movement Project for more details. 

Draw the environment for your character and get your character to interact with at least one object in its environment.

Read the Environment Interaction Project for more details. 

Create a level (or wave) structure for your game to get progressively harder.

Read the Level Progression Project for more details. 

Finish your Scratch game by adding starting, winning, and losing screens.

Read the Final Scratch Game Project for more details.