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    Designing Digital Games: Create Games with Scratch!
    Designing Digital Games: Create Games with Scratch!
    Designing Digital Games: Create Games with Scratch!
    Ebook169 pages1 hour

    Designing Digital Games: Create Games with Scratch!

    By Derek Breen

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    About this ebook

    The easy way for kids to get started with video game design

    Is your youngster a designer at heart? Read on! Designing Digital Games helps children apply their design skills to video game design using Scratch—and this book! Introducing simple programming concepts over the course of three easy-to-follow projects, it shows your child how to use the free Scratch platform to create a video game from the ground up.

    An extension of the trusted For Dummies brand, this juvenile book has a focus on accomplishment and provides all the steps to help young readers learn basic programming concepts to complete cool projects. From using sprites to create a game with a digital pet snake to creating maze games and cloning sprites to create a fun, attack-style game, this approachable guide offers simple, friendly instruction while building kids' confidence in designing digital games.

    • Features a design that is heavy on eye-popping graphics your child will love
    • Content is focused on the steps to completing each of the projects
    • Offers a small, full-color, non-intimidating package that instills confidence in readers
    • Includes basic projects that set the young learner on the road to further exploration of video game design

    If there's a kid aged 7-11 in your life who has an interest in using Scratch to design digital games, this book provides the building blocks they need to take their hobby to the next level.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWiley
    Release dateFeb 26, 2016
    ISBN9781119177234
    Designing Digital Games: Create Games with Scratch!

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      Book preview

      Designing Digital Games - Derek Breen

      INTRODUCTION: ALL ABOUT SCRATCH

      While many tools out there allow you to create digital games, this book focuses on Scratch because Scratch is the very best! Just kidding … who can say which is the best? Of course, that is just MY opinion. But Scratch is certainly ONE of the best applications for rapidly designing your own videogames, whether you are an 11-year-old boy, an 8-year-old girl or a 45-year-old bald guy.

      There is no one right way to start using Scratch, so you can begin with any project in this book. But if you have never used Scratch before, I suggest starting with Project 1 (which is far less lame than you might think).

      Before making your first game, I suggest browsing the online Scratch community (scratch.mit.edu) to see the wide variety of game projects people have made using Scratch. Please share your own game when you are finished and be sure to give credit to Derek Breen for the way his AMAZING BOOK made you the proud game designer you are! (Or not.)

      Scratch was created for YOU and the designers at the MIT Media Lab had several goals:

      Give you powerful software for free.

      Make it easy for you to learn.

      Allow many different ways for you to use the software.

      Enable you to browse/play/remix other projects.

      Enable you to share your projects.

      Create an online community where you can learn from one another.

      ABOUT THIS BOOK

      Can I tell you a secret? You know what is more valuable than money? Time! I am being completely honest. You can spend your time all kinds of ways, and once you spend it, just like when you spend ten dollars, you never get it back. Guess what? That goes for me, too. If I am going to spend several months writing about Scratch, then I want to make sure I am producing a book that is genuinely going to help you learn some REALLY cool stuff!

      Now let me make a deal with you; if you are willing to invest your time by reading even one project in this book, I will do my very best to get you making an addictive video game ASAP. You will hardly even need to read. Seriously, you can follow along as little or as much as you want and still end up with a KILLER project!

      ICONS USED IN THIS BOOK

      tip The Tip icon marks tips and shortcuts that you can use to make coding easier.

      warning The Warning icon tells you to watch out! It marks important information that may save you from scratching your head a ton.

      remember The Remember icon marks concepts you’ve encountered before and should keep in mind while coding.

      funwithmath The Fun with Math icon describes the everyday math you use while coding computer programs. Finally, you see how that stuff really is used!

      funwithcode The Fun with Code icon describes how the coding you’re doing relates to the bigger picture of computer programming.

      ACCESS SCRATCH ON YOUR COMPUTER

      The easiest way to start using Scratch is to visit scratch.mit.edu, create an online account, and start Scratching. To use Scratch without creating an account, you will have to download and install the offline version of Scratch (see the upcoming Use Scratch Offline section).

      Technically, you can use the Scratch website without an account, but you will have to save projects to your computer and then upload them each time you visit the Scratch website to continue working on them. With an account, you can save files online and share projects with other Scratch users.

      CREATE ONLINE ACCOUNT

      Go ahead and start up Scratch! Turn on your computer, open a web browser, and visit scratch.mit.edu. If you already have a Scratch account, click the Sign In button in the top-right corner of the page. If you do not have an account, click the Join Scratch button and fill in the brief online form. If you are under 13 or do not have an email account, please ask an adult to help you create an account (or skip ahead to the upcoming Use Scratch Offline section).

      warning To run Scratch online, you need a relatively recent web browser (Chrome 35 or later, Firefox 31 or later, or Internet Explorer 8 or later) with Adobe Flash Player version 10.2 or later installed. Scratch 2 is designed to support screen sizes 1024 x 768 or larger.

      USE SCRATCH OFFLINE

      You can install the Scratch 2 Offline Editor to work on projects without requiring a Scratch user account. After Scratch 2 is installed, you will not need an Internet connection to work on projects. This version will work on Mac, Windows, and some versions of Linux (32 bit). Visit scratch.mit.edu/scratch2download to download and install Adobe Air (required to run Scratch offline) and the Scratch 2 Offline Editor.

      PROJECT 1

      DESIGN A CLASSIC VIDEOGAME

      CREATING A CLASSIC PONG-STYLE VIDEOGAME IS THE GAME DESIGN EQUIVALENT TO STICK-FIGURE ANIMATION. It’s not so much about creating an awesome game as it

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