Submarine Showdown

Submarine Showdown in KODU - Create > Design > Refine

Grade Level: Middle School Time Required: 1-2 Class Periods (45-60 minutes each) Subject: Computer Science / Game Design Tools Needed: KODU Game Lab, Computers

Lesson Objectives

Students will: ✅ Design an underwater combat game using KODU Game Lab. ✅ Program a controllable submarine with torpedo-launching mechanics. ✅ Add AI-controlled enemy sea creatures (like sharks) that chase and attack the player. ✅ Implement scoring, health, and game-over conditions. ✅ Learn basic AI behaviors, movement logic, and object interactions.

(Video help links could be inserted here if available)

Lesson Structure

1. Introduction (10-15 minutes)

Discuss underwater-based video games and their common mechanics (e.g., Subnautica, Abzû, underwater levels in Super Mario).

Show key concepts or video frames to highlight:

• Submarine movement (gliding, turning, ascending/descending).

• Shooting mechanics (torpedoes, bubbles, sonic pulses).

• Enemy AI (sharks circling, piranhas swarming, octopus hiding).

• Health & scoring systems (tracking oxygen/hull integrity, collecting treasure).

Ask students:

• What makes a fun underwater exploration or combat game?

• How should the submarine move and shoot?

• How should enemy sea creatures behave to be challenging but fair?

2. Hands-On Activity (30-40 minutes)

Step 1: Creating the World

1. Open KODU Game Lab and create a new world.

2. Use the Ground Brush to paint a large area with water terrain. Use the "Up/Down" tool to create deep trenches and high plateaus.

3. Add underwater scenery like coral reefs, seaweed, underwater caves, and shipwrecks to make the world feel alive.

4. Place a starting position for the player’s submarine.

Step 2: Adding the Player’s Submarine

1. Add a Sub object from the KODU menu to act as the player’s vehicle.

2. Program its movement:

   • WHEN: Keyboard / W,A,S,D → DO: Move

Step 3: Implementing Shooting Mechanics

1. Program the submarine to fire projectiles.

2. Program shooting:

   • WHEN: Keyboard / Spacebar → DO: Shoot / Blip (or Missile)

   • Let's call the projectiles "torpedoes."

3. Program hit detection:

   • WHEN: My Torpedo / Bumps / Enemy (Fish, etc.) → DO: Enemy / Vanish

   • AND DO: Score / +1 Point

Step 4: Adding Enemy AI

1. Place several Fish objects (you can change their color to red to signify they are enemies). Let's call them "Piranhas" or "Sharks."

2. Program enemy behavior:

   • WHEN: See / Sub / In my line of sight → DO: Move / Toward

   • WHEN: Bump / Sub → DO: Combat / Damage / 10 points (or your desired amount)

Step 5: Adding Health & Game Over Conditions

1. Program the player’s health. By default, the Sub has health. The damage from Step 4 will reduce it.

2. Program the game-over state:

   • WHEN: Health / Is Zero → DO: Game / End

Step 6: Adding a Scoring System

1. Create a score variable. KODU can often track this by color (e.g., Red Score).

2. Program scoring logic (completed in Step 3).

3. Program a win condition:

   • WHEN: Score / Red / Compare / 10 Points → DO: Game / Win

3. Testing & Debugging (15 minutes)

• Students play their game to test submarine speed, enemy difficulty, and torpedo effectiveness.

• Encourage them to adjust values. Is the submarine too slow? Are the enemies too fast?

• Discuss debugging strategies: If enemies get stuck, check the pathing. If scoring doesn't work, check the WHEN conditions on the torpedo.

4. Reflection & Discussion (10 minutes)

Ask students:

• What was the most challenging part to program?

• How could you make the enemy AI smarter or more interesting?

• What other features would you add to your underwater world (e.g., treasure, power-ups, a giant squid boss)?

Assessment Criteria

✔️ Creativity: Unique design of the underwater environment and choice of objects. ✔️ Programming Logic: Correct implementation of movement, shooting, scoring, and AI behaviors. ✔️ Problem-Solving: Ability to debug and refine gameplay mechanics based on testing. ✔️ Engagement: Active participation in class discussions and peer testing.

Bonus Challenges

• Power-ups: Add objects that give temporary shields (a bubble), speed boosts, or rapid-fire torpedoes.

• More AI Behaviors: Program some fish to flee, others to patrol a specific area (like guarding a shipwreck), or have enemies that only attack when the player gets close.

• Boss Battle: Create a single, large, powerful enemy (like a Cycle object re-skinned as a Kraken or Giant Shark) that takes multiple hits to defeat.

• Resource Management: Add "oxygen" as a resource. The player must occasionally surface or find oxygen plants to replenish it. WHEN: Timer 60 seconds → DO: Game / End.

Alignment with Educational and STEM Standards

This lesson strongly aligns with modern educational frameworks by integrating technology, engineering design, and critical thinking.

1. Demonstrating Personal Qualities and Abilities

• ✔ Demonstrate creativity and innovation → Students design their own unique underwater world, choosing the layout of coral reefs, caves, and enemy placements.

• ✔ Demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving → They must debug issues with enemy AI pathfinding, torpedo logic, and scoring systems.

• ✔ Demonstrate initiative and self-direction → Students independently plan, build, test, and refine their underwater game from concept to playable prototype.

2. Demonstrating Interpersonal Skills

• ✔ Collaborate with team members → In pairs, students can delegate tasks like world design and character programming, and collaborate on debugging.

• ✔ Demonstrate listening and speaking skills → During reflection, they explain their game's logic and design choices to peers.

3. Demonstrating Professional Competencies

• ✔ Demonstrate big-picture thinking → Students understand how individual systems (movement, AI, health, scoring) interact to create a cohesive gameplay experience.

• ✔ Demonstrate continuous learning and adaptability → They adjust game mechanics based on play-testing feedback to improve fun and challenge.

• ✔ Manage time and resources → They must complete their game prototype within the allotted class time.

• ✔ Demonstrate proficiency with technologies, tools, and machines → Using KODU Game Lab introduces fundamental concepts of game engines, visual programming, and AI.

4. Introducing Technology

• ✔ Define technology → Students explore how a game engine (KODU) and its rule-based AI systems are a form of technology used to create interactive entertainment.

• ✔ Identify how technologies have emerged through the use of engineering → They see how programming AI movement and physics simulations create immersive digital experiences.

5. Investigating the Effects of Technology

• ✔ Describe how society affects technology and technology affects society → Students can discuss how underwater games can raise awareness for marine biology or reflect our fascination with ocean exploration, linking to real-world technologies like Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and deep-sea submersibles.

6. Examining Resources of Technology

• ✔ Demonstrate the safe use of a minimum of three tools and/or pieces of equipment as part of the design process → Students use KODU’s terrain tools, object placement tools, and the visual programming editor to build their world.

7. Designing Solutions

• ✔ Describe the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) engineering design process → The lesson follows a clear design cycle: Plan (Introduction) → Create (Hands-On) → Test/Debug → Improve (Reflection/Bonus Challenges).

• ✔ Demonstrate the use of an engineering design process → Students define their game's goal, program AI according to criteria, test mechanics, and evaluate their final design.

8. Using the Engineering Design Process

• ✔ Define the goal of a challenge → The goal is to create a fun and engaging underwater combat game.

• ✔ Design a device using criteria and constraints → They program AI-controlled sharks with specific movement and attack logic.

• ✔ Evaluate viable solutions → Students test different enemy speeds and torpedo damage values to find a good balance.

• ✔ Select a solution → They choose the best combination of mechanics for fun gameplay.

• ✔ Plan the model or prototype → Students lay out their underwater terrain, obstacles, and enemy positions.

• ✔ Produce a model or prototype → They build the KODU submarine game with working AI, scoring, and combat.

• ✔ Assess the design → Students test their game, identify bugs, and make improvements.

• ✔ Describe how the solution could be improved → They brainstorm bonus features like a boss battle or power-ups.

• ✔ Communicate the results → They share their finished game with classmates and discuss the design process.

9. Examining Systems

• ✔ Illustrate how processes change inputs to outputs in any system → Students program inputs (keyboard presses for movement and shooting) and see the direct outputs (submarine moves, a torpedo fires, an enemy reacts).

10. Identifying the Contexts of Technology and Engineering

• ✔ Describe the computation, automation, AI, and robotics contexts of technology and engineering → Students directly program AI-controlled sea creatures, learning how simple, rule-based programming can create the illusion of intelligent, automated behavior, linking directly to principles used in robotics and AI.

This Submarine Showdown lesson provides a robust framework for teaching game design, programming logic, and creative problem-solving in a context that is engaging and fun for middle school students. 🎮🐠