Quiz Show II

Review — where we got to 5 min

Last week you built a show with three questions and a score. Two blocks from it matter today.

• ask [] and wait, and the (answer) it leaves behind.
• if <> then and its else half, with <() = ()> in the diamond.

Quick-fire

Your quiz asks all three questions however badly the player does. What would make it stop early?

Today’s Topic 3 min

• A lives variable, and a wrong answer that takes one away
• A script whose only job is to watch the lives
• stop [this script v] — stopping one stack, not the whole show
• <() > ()> — a pass mark

Learning outcome

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

1. Take a life away when the player answers wrongly.
2. End the show the moment the lives run out.
3. Say whether the player passed, using a number you decide.

Learnt — lives, the referee, the pass mark 28 min

1 · A wrong answer costs a life

You already have the else branch. It runs every time the player is wrong. Put one more block in it.

1. In Variables, make a variable called lives.
2. On the green-flag stack, add set [lives v] to (3).
3. In the else branch of your question, add change [lives v] by (-1).
4. Run it and answer badly. Watch the number on the Stage go down.

when flag clicked
set [lives v] to (3)
ask [How many days are in a week?] and wait
if <(answer) = [7]> then
  say [Correct!] for (2) seconds
else
  change [lives v] by (-1)
  say [Wrong. That costs a life.] for (2) seconds
end
            

2 · Somebody has to notice

The lives can now reach zero, and nothing happens when they do. The show needs a referee: one script that does nothing but watch.

when flag clicked
set [lives v] to (3)
forever
  if <(lives) = [0]> then
    say [Out of lives! Show over.] for (3) seconds
    stop [all v]
  end
end
            

3 · The order inside a question

A referee in a forever loop works, but it can be a moment late — the next question may already be on screen. The tidier way is to check right there, in the question script.

when I receive [question 1 v]
ask [How many legs has a spider?] and wait
if <(answer) = [8]> then
  change [score v] by (1)
else
  change [lives v] by (-1)
end
if <(lives) = [0]> then
  broadcast [out v]
  stop [this script v]
end
broadcast [question 2 v]
            

4 · Did they pass?

A score of 3 out of 4 is a pass. A score of 1 is not. To tell them apart you need a new question shape: is one number bigger than another?

1. Open Operators.
2. Find <() > ()>. It sits just above the equals block.
3. Drag (score) into the left side.
4. Type your pass mark into the right side.
5. Drop the whole thing into an if / else.

when I receive [result v]
if <(score) > [2]> then
  say [You pass! Well done.] for (4) seconds
else
  say [Not this time. Try again!] for (4) seconds
end
            

Basic — four questions, three lives 25 min

Start from last week’s project. You are adding to it, not starting again.

Step 1 — the variable

1. Make a variable called lives and leave it showing.
2. Add set [lives v] to (3) to the green-flag stack, under the score one.

Step 2 — one question at a time

1. Open your question 1 script.
2. Change the plain if <> then into an if / else.
3. Put change [lives v] by (-1) in the else half.
4. Test it. Get it wrong. Watch the lives fall to 2.

Step 3 — the same in the others

1. Do the same to questions 2, 3 and 4.
2. Test after each one.

Step 4 — the out check

1. Under the if / else in question 1, add if <(lives) = [0]> then.
2. Inside it, put broadcast [out v] and stop [this script v].
3. Duplicate that if block into questions 2 and 3.
4. Build the when I receive [out v] script: a say block, then stop [all v].

Step 5 — the pass mark

1. Open your when I receive [result v] script.
2. Wrap what is in it inside an if / else that tests the score.
3. Decide your own pass mark and type it in.

Step 6 — play it three ways

1. Answer everything right. You should pass.
2. Answer everything wrong. The show should end after three.
3. Get exactly your pass mark. Check that is the answer you wanted.

Sudden death

Make a version with six questions and only one life.

• Six questions.
• One life.
• One wrong answer ends the show immediately.

Warn them

A player should feel it coming. Make the host say something when they are down to their last life.

• The warning appears when lives reach 1, not before.
• It appears once, not over and over.
• It does not appear at all if they never get anything wrong.

Three endings

Pass and fail is not enough. Add a third ending for a perfect score.

• A perfect score gets its own message.
• A pass gets the ordinary one.
• Everything else gets the try-again one.
• Nobody ever sees two endings at once.

if <(score) > [3]> then
  say [Perfect score!] for (4) seconds
else
  if <(score) > [1]> then
    say [You pass.] for (4) seconds
  else
    say [Try again!] for (4) seconds
  end
end
            

Higher or Lower

Add a bonus round. The host thinks of a number between 1 and 20, and you get six guesses. After every guess the host says Higher! or Lower!

• The number is different every time you play.
• Every guess gets a clue: higher, lower, or you got it.
• A correct guess ends the round straight away.
• Running out of guesses ends it too, and says what the number was.

when flag clicked
set [secret v] to (pick random (1) to (20))
repeat (6)
  ask [Guess my number, 1 to 20] and wait
  if <(answer) > (secret)> then
    say [Lower!] for (1) seconds
  end
  if <(answer) < (secret)> then
    say [Higher!] for (1) seconds
  end
  if <(answer) = (secret)> then
    say [You got it!] for (2) seconds
    stop [this script v]
  end
end
say (join [Out of guesses. It was ] (secret)) for (3) seconds
            

Summary 4 min

A quiz you cannot fail is not a quiz. Today yours grew teeth.

1. A wrong answer takes a life, in the else branch you already had.
2. The lives check goes between marking the answer and asking the next question.
3. stop [this script v] ends one stack. Everything else keeps running.
4. <() > ()> turns a score into a pass or a fail.

Lives

How many mistakes the player is allowed before the game ends.

Greater than

Asks whether the left number is bigger than the right one. Exactly equal is not bigger.

Stop this script

Ends the stack it sits in. Other stacks carry on.

Pass mark

The score you decide is good enough. It is a number you choose, not a rule.

Next lesson: a card behind every round, a sound for right and wrong, and a hard question worth three points.