Are you new to coding in Scratch or maybe you would like to improve on your Python programming skills? Then here are our top 5 tips on creative coding.
We continue this week with our popular Python school groups, looking at clever ways to code text-based Choose Your Own Adventure games. Already there are some great ideas forming and we look forward to seeing the results in a few weeks time. In the meantime, you can play one of First Coding’s adventure games where you must navigate a secret underground bunker, solving puzzles and looking for the source of the mysterious radio transmissions.
First Coding asked a couple of game studios to set a challenge and they didn’t disappoint. No coding experience is required for these challenges, it’s open to all with a creative imagination and some paper. There’s also a chance that your idea might get included in a game, with your name in the credits!
A player (represented by the red block) walks into a room containing up to a maximum of eight sprites. The player can only escape the room once the puzzle has been solved. Can you design a suitable puzzle for the player to solve? The sprites can be dragged, stacked or even blasted to bits in order to solve this puzzle.
Can you plan a puzzle using only a limited number of sprites? You can submit your ideas to hello@firstcoding.co.uk and we look forward to seeing what you come up with. Ideas need to be submitted by Friday 15th May.
In this week’s game design video we finish up on our Scratch game Lockdown Letters. Click the video below to learn how to code the paper aeroplanes that the player flies to the targets that we looked at last week.
Never assume Scratch is something only younger children use! At First Coding, we regularly submit the games we make in Scratch to game design competitions, competing alongside Unity developers and other independent game designers.
In this episode we’ll be looking at how the random targets in the game are coded.
Every Friday they’ll be a new video showing how we make the game Lockdown Letters. Click the video below to learn how to build the title screen as well as the background.
Please consider subscribing to the First Coding Patreon page to get access to the Scratch file for Lockdown Letters as well as other creative coding resources.
Welcome to the first episode of our Scratch game design series. Every Friday they’ll be a new video showing how we make the game Lockdown Letters. Click the video below to learn how to build the title screen as well as the background.
Please consider subscribing to the First Coding Patreon page to get access to the Scratch file for Lockdown Letters as well as other creative coding resources.
JOIN FIRST CODING AS WE MAKE A LOCKDOWN COMPUTER GAME
Starting Friday 24th April
First Coding is about to start making its first computer game inspired by the current lockdown. We’ll be making Lockdown Letters step by step in a series of weekly videos, with a new one available every Friday.
We would love it if you followed along and made your own version of the game – adding your own ideas too. The concept is simple, you’re one of many people in a town currently under lockdown and you must circulate letters of encouragement to other households to keep the town’s spirits up. You can only communicate with people by writing notes on paper aeroplanes and flying them to their destinations.
We’ll be building the game in Scratch, and during the guide, you’ll find out how to make the game, converting it to HTML so that you can package it up for distribution, and even some tips on how you can earn some cash from your game.
About Scratch
At First Coding, we regularly submit the games we make in Scratch to game design competitions, competing alongside Unity developers and other independent game designers. Never assume Scratch is something only younger children use! You can see our recent Scratch competition entries at The Rocket Arcade if you’re interested!
Starting Friday 24th April on Facebook and YouTube!
Like our Facebook page and YouTube channel to follow your dreams of becoming a games designer. Open to all ages and abilities. Every week a new video will be posted, along with the opportunity to view previous sessions if you may have missed. There will be four weekly videos concluding with a fifth live Q & A session.
If you were one of the pupils who made their own Caesar cipher apps last term, you maybe interested to see this post from the Science Museum. Can you crack it? If you can solve it, then take what you’ve learnt and try and make your cipher more robust. Good luck!
Three new coding clubs kick off this week. The pupils will be learning how to code their own text adventure games in Python. These games were a huge part of most people’s childhood and if you would like to learn more about them then I would recommend books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. Here are my only surviving copies from the 80s and 90s.
Use handy game design guides to build your own games.
Help your child bring their ideas to life.
First Coding resources deliver creative and fun coding activities for ages 8 and above plus helpful guides and podcasts including game design tips, hacking Minecraft and making money from your creations.
For just $5 a month, get access to the complete resource archive – with more added every month. Take a look for free here: https://www.patreon.com/FirstCoding/posts
