If you’re looking for ways to make video games with your kids, this blog is a great place to start. It gives you step-by-step instructions on how to build several different games right inside the Scratch programming environment.
Scratch is a service that’s built by MIT and it’s designed to help kids learn how to program. It’s really easy to use, and the interface looks like a drawing application so that if you’ve ever drawn something using MS Paint, then you’ll be able to figure out how to use Scratch.
The site also includes information about how students can go above and beyond just building simple games in Scratch, because once they’re done with that it’s time for them to move on and start working with real code.
The easiest way to make a video game is with Scratch, a free program from MIT. In today’s tutorial, I’ll show you how to make a video game.
If your child wants to make video games, they’ll need to learn how to code. Scratch and Python are two of the best tools for teaching coding.
But what if your child doesn’t like coding? Or maybe they want to make a video game but don’t know where to start?
Scratch is perfect for kids who want to create their own games or animations. And it doesn’t require any previous coding knowledge!
Today I am happy to announce the release of Coding Games in Scratch. This is a book that shows readers how to build five games using Scratch, including a game where you program an on-screen robot, an asteroid avoidance game and more!
You can buy this book on Amazon.com (in the US) or Amazon.co.uk (in the UK).
Here is a list of the games that are covered in the book:
Catch the Green Guy: A simple platform game with obstacles and enemies.
Catch the Green Guy 2: The sequel to Catch the Green Guy, with more hazards and improved graphics.
Robot Game: Program a robot to collect all of the coins, avoiding obstacles along the way.
Asteroid Dodge: The player must avoid incoming asteroids for as long as possible.
Target Practice: A first-person shooting game where the player must shoot targets as they move around on screen.
This blog is about using Scratch to make games. In each post I will be making a different game, step-by-step. If you want to join in and make your own version of the game, that would be great. You can find Scratch here, and a list of all my Scratch tutorials here.
However, if you don’t know what Scratch is and would like to use another programming language, then there is good news. There are similar languages to Scratch available on the internet. They are:
Alice
Snap!
Greenfoot
GameMaker (free version)
Processing (Java)
If you want to use these programs instead of Scratch then you should be able to follow along by translating the instructions from scratch into one of the other languages.
I’m making a series of blog posts about how to make a video game. I want these posts to be useful to as many people as possible, so I’m going to try to explain things simply and clearly.
I’m going to start with Scratch. Scratch is a free programming language for kids. But don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s too simple for adults, or even professional game developers. It’s not! In fact, I’ve seen professional game developers use Scratch to prototype their games.
In this first post, I’m going to show you how to make a simple Flappy Bird clone using Scratch. We will cover everything from creating our first sprite, coding animations and user controls, and even creating a simple camera system for our player character.
First Things First
Welcome to our blog, where we post about all things Scratch-related. We’re a community of Scratch users who use Scratch in all sorts of fun and interesting ways. Some of us use Scratch to make games, or animations, or interactive stories, or simulations. And some of us contribute to the development of Scratch itself by creating new tutorials, translating the Scratch interface into different languages, or improving the website.
If you have questions, post them in the forum. If you encounter problems with your projects, search for help in the forum. If you can’t find an answer there (and if it is an issue specific to a given project), post your question in the forum and include a link to your project.
If you have ideas for new features that would be helpful, please add them to this list: Ideas for New Features on Scratch
Note: This blog is not a place to report bugs in Scratch. Post bug reports in the Bugs Forum instead.
Posting in the Scratch Forums is a great way to meet other people with similar interests, and is also a very good place to ask for help. If you’re stuck on a problem, or want to get opinions on your work, then the forums are the best place!
To make a new topic, find the ‘Create New Topic’ button located at the top of all topics lists. Before you click that button, though, you should first look for any existing topics about what you want to talk about. Do this by looking at the list of categories on the left and checking if there is one that looks appropriate. If there is one, then click it and see if someone has already made a topic about what you want to discuss. If not, then create a new one!
To make sure that everyone can understand and reply to your post, remember to:
1) Choose an appropriate title
2) Write in English (or another language that people can understand!)
3) Add some details, such as what you did before the error occurred or why you need help.
4) Add your project file! All posts asking for help should have a link to their project.