Day 35 - Game Design
Thursday, March 5, 2026
Today's Objectives
- I can make a pong game in Scratch.
- I can use Scratch’s programming blocks to implement game mechanics.
Warmup: Intro to Scratch
I really am a big fan of using Python in a beginning programming class. Unfortunately, my request to have an updated Python version that supports Pygame installed has not been fulfilled yet. Pygame allows you to make games with graphics using Python.
We’ll use Scratch as an alternative for the last seven days of the course. Scratch may be familiar to many of you. It is another programming language.
We’ll spend two days covering basics. Next week you’ll group up and design your own game in Scratch. That’s right, a group project - finally!
For now, go to Scratch.mit.edu and login with the information Mr. Willingham gives you.
Follow along with one of the tutorials. When you start a new project, you should see a “Tutorials” button in the top right. Click that and find a tutorial that looks fun to you.
Warmup Checkpoint
I have completed a Scratch tutorial.
Work Session: Make a Pong Game
Follow along with Mr. Willingham as we make a game of pong in Scratch.
We’ll discuss the vocab specific to Scratch and how it relates to our prior experience with Python.
Key Vocabulary
Sprite — Any character or object in your Scratch project. In Pong, the ball and paddles are each their own sprite.
Stage — The background area where your sprites move and interact. Think of it as the game board.
Costume — The appearance of a sprite. A sprite can have multiple costumes and switch between them.
Backdrop — The background image on the stage. You can change backdrops to create different scenes or screens (like a title screen vs. gameplay).
Event — Something that triggers code to run, like clicking the green flag, pressing a key, or one sprite touching another.
Broadcast — A message one sprite can send to other sprites. When a sprite receives a broadcast, it can run code in response. Useful for coordinating game events like scoring or resetting.
Conditional — An “if/then” check. For example: if the ball touches the edge, then bounce. You’ve seen these in Python — Scratch uses the same logic with visual blocks.
Variable — A named container that stores a value, just like in Python. In Pong, we’ll use a variable to keep track of the score.