A Week of Workshops

Blog, Scratch, ,

A huge thank you to everyone who attended the recent workshops. Due to the range of ages and abilities we actually split the intended workshop into smaller groups which made for a busy but very creative week.

All the Scratch games made in the sessions were absolutely brilliant and I hope everyone learnt something new, especially when we looked at all the different ways to circulate your projects.

Keep building everyone and don’t forget about the free Scratch competition we’re running this month. Please keep an eye out for future weekend and after school coding clubs run by First Coding. It would be great to see you all again.

It’s Competition Time!

Blog, Events, Scratch, ,

It’s that time of the year again where we launch our summer competition. The previous years have seen some great ideas being submitted and so we’re really looking forward to see what gets made this year.

The competition is open to all ages and abilities, runs for the month of August and games must be made in Scratch. This year, entries need to be based on a theme set by First Coding. This year’s competition theme is…

Signals

The competition is free to enter and entries can be emailed to hello@firstcoding.co.uk anytime during August. Judging will take place during the first week of September and prizes will be awarded shortly after. We will be awarding a £10 gift voucher for the best game produced as well as an additional £10 gift voucher for best creative effort.

Good luck!

 

Using Scratch to Build Standalone Games, Build a Portfolio and Include Adverts in Your Projects

Blog, Scratch,

If you’re serious about designing games but not sure where to begin then take a look at what First Coding can teach you with Scratch. Learn how to build standalone games, get your ideas in front of a large audience and include ads in your games to boost your pocket money!

This is our example of how you can take your games built in Scratch and package them up into standalone games to create a great looking portfolio.

Check out our Scratch Game designer workshop this summer: http://www.firstcoding.co.uk/become-scratch-game-designer/

This is a great example of how you can take your games built in Scratch, and package them up into standalone games to create a great looking portfolio. My book, The Game Designer’s Notebook is packed full of advice on taking your first step into game development. Whether you’re young or old, experienced or not, this book will be helpful to you and it’s only £1.99: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B…

 I also have a Patreon page, where for $5 you not only get a copy of my book but you also unlock a wealth of game design resources too! https://www.patreon.com/FirstCoding

Toy Car App

App Design, Blog, Scratch, ,

This is such a great idea! A Year 5 pupil has built this little application in Scratch that has been packaged up to run on Android devices. When you place a car on the phone’s screen, you start the app and the animation runs. It’s designed to give the appearance the toy car is driving along the road at varying speeds.

Summer Scratch Workshops – Coming Soon

Blog, Scratch,

Another popular event this summer will be our Scratch workshops. These will be aimed at both children starting out with coding as well as more advanced sessions for people who are comfortable with Scratch and wish to develop their skills further. The dates have nearly been finalised but in the meantime take a look at this rainy animation built in… yep you guessed it. Scratch! All the visuals were processed in Scratch as well as the sound effects and the slowed piano notes making for a very relaxing animation.

 

Game Design Video Series – Part 3

Blog, Game Design, Scratch, ,

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.

Files for this game and many other fun Scratch and Python projects can be found on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/FirstCoding

Game Design Video Series – Part 2

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It’s target time!

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.

 

Game Design Video Series: Part 1

Blog, Game Design, Scratch, , ,

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.