4-4 Challenges Day 4

Students collect treasure. Students will use a variable to set and increment the score as each object is collected.

OBJECTIVES:

Day 3 of a 3-4 day project. Students add villain to their maze and use time to complete game within a certain time constraint.




OBJECTIVES: By the end of this lesson, students will:

    • add thrill, by creating an villain who patrols the maze.

    • add urgency, by adding a time requirement.

    • recognize that thrill and urgency are game play tactics.

    • practice using variables, when creating the maze timer.

TEACHER RESOURCES:

Standards

    • 2-AP-11: Create clearly named variables that represent different data types and perform operations on their values.

    • 2-AP-17: Systematically test and refine programs using a range of test cases.

CSTA

DO NOW:


      • Besides coding, what does Kari say is a key part of creating video games?

      • What do they say about communication as part of the design process?

      • Reina asks what she should do to get into an environment like the one Kari works in. What does Kari say?

Teacher Guidance

  • Meeting people and teams and collaborating. , Collaborating, testing it out with a target group to get their feedback.

  • Communication is an essential part of the design process, you need to get feedback and talk to your target group to find out what your audience want.

  • Have a Passion for games. Start somewhere. Find a mentor in the Industry.

Mini-Lesson

Project (20-30 minutes)

Part 1: Add Villain to Stage. Student handout

Students add a villain sprite to their stage. (To keep it simple, the villain can walk through walls.) Students decide what happens when the villain gets to the edge of screen.


  • A rotation style of left-right sprite will allow the sprite turns back across the stage.

  • If students want sprite to respawn at the other edge of the screen, remind them of the the (X, Y) dimensions of the stage, X: (-240 -240). Y : (-180 -180).


Part 2: Make a Timer:

Students make their own timer using a variable and a wait command.






Built in Timer:

Scratch has a built in timer that keeps track of time in seconds. It is more accurate.
However you can not use it as a countdown. Students should make their own timer and not use this method.


The built in timer works in the following ways:

  • Continuously counts upwards by one-thousandth of a second

  • Cannot be paused or stopped

  • Resets only when a project is opened inside Scratch or by execution of the Reset Timer block

  • Continues even when its project stops running

Close-Out (5 minutes)

Close-Out (5 minutes)

Discuss the following questions:

  • What does increment mean?

  • What does decrement mean?

  • Where are do the add, substract, equal commands reside?

Potential Responses

  • Increment is to add one to a variable.

  • Decrement decreases one from a variable.

  • These commands reside under the green operator commands.