Game Arcade

Beginner

60 mins

Teacher/Student led

145 points

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

Target Test

In this lesson, students will learn to create a game using MakeCode Arcade. They will create a player sprite, targets, and learn to move the sprite and shoot at targets. The lesson also covers how to generate targets at random positions, detect when a target is hit, and keep score.

Learning Goals Learning Outcomes Teacher Notes Lesson Files

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1 Introduction to Target Test
2 Start a New Project
3 Create your player
4 Move left and right
5 Create the targets
6 Random position at the top
7 Fire!
8 Hit the target
9 Score a point
10 Wrap Up
Challenge
Quiz

1 - Introduction to Target Test

Welcome to our Target Test lesson! In this lesson, we will be creating a fun game using MakeCode Arcade. You will learn how to create a player sprite, move it around, create targets, and shoot at them. You will also learn how to keep score. Let's dive in and start coding!

2 - Start a New Project

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

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

5 points

3 - Create your player

First let's create our player sprite.

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

let mySprite: Sprite = null
mySprite = sprites.create(img`
    . . . . . . . c d . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . c d . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . c d . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . c b . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . f f . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . c 2 . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . f f . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . e 2 . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . e e 4 e . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . e 2 4 e . . . . . . 
    . . . . . c c c e e e . . . . . 
    . . . . e e 2 2 2 4 e e . . . . 
    . . c f f f c c e e f f e e . . 
    . c c c c e e 2 2 2 2 4 2 e e . 
    c c c c c c e e 2 2 2 4 2 2 e e 
    c c c c c c e e 2 2 2 2 4 2 e e 
    `, SpriteKind.Player)

Arcade: How to create a sprite in Arcade

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.

10 points

4 - Move left and right

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 2 . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . f f . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . . e 2 . . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . e e 4 e . . . . . . 
    . . . . . . e 2 4 e . . . . . . 
    . . . . . c c c e e e . . . . . 
    . . . . e e 2 2 2 4 e e . . . . 
    . . c f f f c c e e f f e e . . 
    . c c c c e e 2 2 2 2 4 2 e e . 
    c c c c c c e e 2 2 2 4 2 2 e e 
    c c c c c c e e 2 2 2 2 4 2 e e 
    `, SpriteKind.Player)
mySprite.y = 110
controller.moveSprite(mySprite, 100, 0)

Make sure you select y in the position block and put in a value of 110. This will make the sprite go to the bottom.

Click the + on the move block and have values of vx 100 and vy 0. This means we can move the sprite left and right (vx) but not up and down (vy).

Once you've added the code check to see that your space ship is at the bottom and you can move it left and right.

20 points

5 - Create the targets

Now we will create the target sprites that we will shoot at. We will create a new target (enemy) sprite every 2 seconds.

Add the following code and choose a sprite from the gallery. In this example we chose a monster:

let mySprite2: Sprite = null
game.onUpdateInterval(2000, function () {
    mySprite2 = sprites.create(img`
        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
        . . . . c c c c . . . . . . . . 
        . . c c 5 5 5 5 c c . . . . . . 
        . c 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 c . . . . . 
        c 5 5 5 5 5 1 f 5 5 5 c . . . . 
        c 5 5 5 5 5 f f 5 5 5 5 c . . . 
        c 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 c . . . 
        c c b b 1 b 5 5 5 5 5 5 d c . . 
        c 5 3 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 d d d c . . 
        . b 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 d d d c . . 
        . . c b b c 5 5 b d d d d c c . 
        . c b b c 5 5 b b d d d d c d c 
        . c c c c c c d d d d d d d d c 
        . . . c c c c d 5 5 b d d d c . 
        . . c c c c c b 5 5 b c c c . . 
        . . c b b b c d 5 5 b c . . . . 
        `, SpriteKind.Enemy)
})

Make sure you select Enemy as the type for your target sprite.

Once you've added the code you should see your target sprite in the middle of the screen.

Arcade: How to create a sprite in Arcade

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.

20 points

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