Scratch Game

Beginner

60 mins

Teacher/Student led

145 points

What you need:
Chromebook/Laptop/PC or iPad/Tablet

Star Chaser

This lesson guides students through creating a fun game called 'Star Chaser'. They will learn how to use variables to keep score and how to create and control clones in Scratch. The game involves a character named Ripley chasing stars, with the score increasing each time a star is caught.

Learning Goals Learning Outcomes Teacher Notes Lesson Files

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1 Introduction
2 Create a New Project
3 Add the Stars backdrop
4 Add Ripley
5 Shrink and Move Ripley
6 Create a score variable
7 Add the Star Sprite
8 Hide the star and create clones
9 Program the Clones
10 Catch a Star
11 Game Time and Wrap Up
Challenge
Quiz

1 - Introduction

Welcome to the 'Star Chaser' lesson! In this exciting lesson, you will create a fun game where a character named Ripley chases stars. You will learn how to use something called 'variables' to keep score and how to create and control 'clones'. Don't worry if you don't know what these terms mean yet, you will understand them by the end of this lesson. So, are you ready to start your coding adventure? Let's go!

2 - Create a New Project

Start by creating a new Scratch project and then delete the cat sprite as we don't need it for this project.

https://scratch.mit.edu/

Scratch: How to create a new project

Go to the Scratch website using the link below and click on the 'Create' link in the blue bar at the top.

By default, each new project starts with the cat sprite already added. To delete the cat click on the x in the blue circle beside the cat in the sprite list.

https://scratch.mit.edu

5 points

3 - Add the Stars backdrop

Add the Stars backdrop from the backdrop library.

Scratch: How to add a backdrop from the library

To add a backdrop from the backdrop library follow these steps:

Put your mouse over the Choose a Backdrop button
Click on the magnifying glass
Find the backdrop you want in the library
Click on your chosen backdrop

You can use search box or the filter links (Fantasy, Music, Sports etc) to locate your backdrop.

10 points

4 - Add Ripley

Add the 'Ripley' sprite from the Scratch library to your project.

Scratch: How to add a sprite from the library

To add a sprite from the sprite library follow these steps:

Put your mouse over the Choose a Sprite button
Click on the magnifying glass
Find the sprite you want in the library
Click on your chosen sprite

You can use search box or the filter links (Animals, People, Fantasy etc) to locate your sprite.

10 points

5 - Shrink and Move Ripley

Now let's change the size of Ripley and programming him to follow your mouse pointer. This will make Ripley look like he's chasing the pointer around the screen!

To do this, you will use the set size to block to shrink Ripley, and the point towards and move blocks to make him follow the mouse.

Add the following code to the Ripley sprite:


when green flag clicked
set size to (20) %
forever 
  point towards (mouse-pointer v)
  move (5) steps

Once you've added this code, click on the green flag and test that Ripley moves and follows your mouse pointer.

15 points

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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