Scratch Game Microbit
Intermediate
60 mins
Teacher/Student led
200 points
What you need:
Chromebook/Laptop/PC
Microbit

Microbit Paddle Ball

In this step-by-step lesson, you'll create a Microbit Paddle Ball game using Scratch. You'll learn how to create a new project, add and position sprites, make the ball bounce, and control the paddle with a Microbit. You'll also program the ball to bounce off the paddle, add a backdrop, and create a game over line. Finally, you'll be encouraged to think about how you could improve the game.
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    1 - Create a new Scratch project

    Create a new Scratch project and delete the cat sprite that's added by default.


    2 - Add the paddle sprite

    Add the sprite called 'Paddle' from the sprite library.

    Drag the paddle to near the bottom of the stage area (by holding down the left mouse button and moving your mouse). Make sure to leave some space between the bottom of the stage area and the paddle (this is important later on as we'll be putting something there).



    3 - Add the football sprite

    Add the sprite called 'Soccer Ball' from the sprite library.


    4 - Position the ball

    At the start of the game we want the ball to start at the top center of the screen. We can do this by setting the X and Y coordinates of the ball.

    We want the ball to start at the top center of the screen which as at the location X:0 Y:170. To do this we add the following code to the ball sprite:

    when green flag clicked go to x [0] y [170]

    Once you've added this code and entered the correct X and Y coordinates, click on the green flag at the top right of your screen to run the code. Your ball should go to the top center of your screen.


    5 - Make the ball bounce around

    Now that we have the ball in the correct position for the start of the game, we want to make the ball start moving around the screen and bouncing of the edge of the screen when it touches it.

    First we point the ball in a downwards diagonal direction and then we get it to continually move, if it touches the edge of the screen we want it to bounce. Add the following code underneath the go to x: 0 y: 170 block:

    when green flag clicked go to x [0] y [170] // insert new code under here point in direction [120] forever move [10] steps if on edge bounce end

    Run your code by clicking the green flag. The ball should start bouncing around the screen!

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    Copyright Notice
    This lesson is copyright of Coding Ireland. Unauthorised use, copying or distribution is not allowed.

    Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is available for free at https://scratch.mit.edu
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