Today you are coding in MakeCode Arcade. You will build Galaxy Ghosts at your device: a space shooter with falling ghosts, a speed variable, shots, score, a health bar and damage.

You can already move sprites and run a project. Before you build, think: what might make the ghosts get harder as the game goes on?

You will predict, build step by step, run, and fix as you go. Later you will change one number so the game feels hard but fair.

Galaxy Ghosts has six parts:

1. A player that moves left and right.
2. Ghosts that appear at the top in random places and fall.
3. A speed variable so you can change how fast they fall.
4. Shots that hit them.
5. A score for each hit.
6. A health bar that takes damage and ends the game.

Run it after every part.

Open the MakeCode Arcade website using the link below and create a new project. You can call the project whatever you want.

https://arcade.makecode.com

Arcade: How to create a new project

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Create a new Arcade project using the makecode.com website.

First let's create our player sprite.

Add the following code and choose the blue space ship sprite:

let mySprite: Sprite = null
mySprite = sprites.create(img`
    . . . . . . . c d . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . c d . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . c d . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . c b . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . f f . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . c 6 . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . f f . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . 8 6 . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . 8 8 9 8 . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . 8 6 9 8 . . . . . . 
    . . . . . c c c 8 8 8 . . . . . 
    . . . . 8 8 6 6 6 9 8 8 . . . . 
    . . 8 f f f c c e e f f 8 8 . . 
    . 8 8 8 8 8 8 6 6 6 6 9 6 8 8 . 
    8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 6 6 6 9 6 6 8 8 
    8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 6 6 6 6 9 6 8 8 
    `, SpriteKind.Player)

Arcade: How to create a sprite in Arcade

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Click on the gray box in the sprite block to open the Editor. You can choose a sprite from the Gallery or you can paint your own sprite using the Editor.

We want to position the player sprite at the bottom of the screen and use the joystick (or arrow keys on your keyboard) to move it left and right.

Add the following new code:

let mySprite: Sprite = null
mySprite = sprites.create(img`
    . . . . . . . c d . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . c d . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . c d . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . c b . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . f f . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . c 6 . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . f f . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . 8 6 . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . 8 8 9 8 . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . 8 6 9 8 . . . . . . 
    . . . . . c c c 8 8 8 . . . . . 
    . . . . 8 8 6 6 6 9 8 8 . . . . 
    . . 8 f f f c c e e f f 8 8 . . 
    . 8 8 8 8 8 8 6 6 6 6 9 6 8 8 . 
    8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 6 6 6 9 6 6 8 8 
    8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 6 6 6 6 9 6 8 8 
    `, SpriteKind.Player)
mySprite.y = 110
controller.moveSprite(mySprite, 100, 0)