Pet Pal IV

Review — where we got to 5 min

Your pet has three needs, three buttons, a mood and an ending. Two blocks from three weeks ago come back.

• ask [] and wait and (answer), from the Quiz Show.
• The start button: when this sprite clicked, hide, broadcast [start v].

Quick-fire

Two people play your pet, one after the other, without pressing the green flag. What goes wrong?

Today’s Topic 3 min

• An adopt button, and a pet that waits to be adopted
• ask [] and wait used for something that is not a question
• Two lists: what the green flag owns, and what a run owns
• An ending card with a name and a number in one sentence

Learning outcome

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

1. Let the player name something, and use that name later.
2. Say which variables belong to a run and which belong to the whole project.
3. Hand a finished project to somebody who was not in the room.

Learnt — a name, two lists, an ending 28 min

1 · Whose pet is it?

The same pet for everybody is a demo. A pet the player names is theirs. The block for it is the one you built the Quiz Show out of.

1. Make a variable called pet name. Untick its box — it does not belong on the Stage.
2. On the pet, add ask [What will you call me?] and wait.
3. Under it, set [pet name v] to (answer).
4. Then say (join [I am ] (pet name)) for (3) seconds.
5. Run it and give the pet a name.

ask [What will you call me?] and wait
set [pet name v] to (answer)
say (join [I am ] (pet name)) for (3) seconds
            

2 · Two lists

This is the idea worth taking out of the whole arc. Write two lists on paper before you move a single block.

Anything in the right-hand column goes into a when I receive [adopt v] script. Anything in the left-hand column stays on the flag.

when I receive [adopt v]
ask [What will you call me?] and wait
set [pet name v] to (answer)
set [food v] to (10)
set [fun v] to (10)
set [days v] to (0)
broadcast [live v]
            

3 · The ending card

One sentence, with a name in the middle and a number at the end. That needs two joins, and the way to build them is inside out.

1. Drag one join [apple ] [banana] onto the empty canvas.
2. Type lasted  in its left half.
3. Drag (days) into its right half.
4. Drag a second join out, and drop the first one into its RIGHT half.
5. Drag (pet name) into the second one’s left half.
6. Now drop the whole thing into a say block.

when I receive [live v]
wait until <(food) = (0)>
if <(days) > (best)> then
  set [best v] to (days)
end
switch costume to [dog2-c v]
say (join (pet name) (join [ lasted ] (days))) for (4) seconds
stop [all v]
            

Basic — finish your Pet Pal 25 min

Your project from last week. This is mostly moving blocks you already have onto a different hat.

Step 1 — the two lists

1. On paper, list every variable your project has.
2. Beside each one, write FLAG or RUN.
3. Do the same for every sprite: where does it sit, is it hidden, which costume?
4. Read your list back to yourself before you touch a block. Anything you cannot label is a bug waiting.

Step 2 — the adopt button

1. Add a button sprite and put it in the middle of the Stage.
2. Give it a flag stack that shows it and puts it in place.
3. Give it a clicked stack: hide, then broadcast [adopt v].

Step 3 — move the run onto adopt

1. Find every set [my variable v] to (0) block for something on your RUN list.
2. Drag them off the flag and build one when I receive [adopt v] script out of them.
3. Put the name question at the top of it.
4. Put broadcast [live v] at the bottom.

Step 4 — move the clocks onto live

1. Change every clock’s hat from when flag clicked to when I receive [live v].
2. Do the mood script and the ending script too.
3. Press the flag. Nothing should happen except the pet asking to be adopted.
4. Click the button. Everything should start.

Step 5 — the card

1. Build the two joins on the empty canvas first.
2. Read the sentence out loud before you drop it into the say block.
3. Play a whole game and check the card says your pet’s name.

A front page

What a player sees before they press anything should tell them what this is.

• The name of your game is on screen.
• It says what the player has to do.
• The record is visible, so there is something to aim at.

Adopt again

When a pet dies, the button should come back so the next person can adopt a fresh one — with a fresh name.

• The button reappears after the ending card.
• A new run asks for a new name.
• Every need starts full again.
• The record does not move.

The cold test

You cannot see your own project properly while you still remember building it. So put time between you and it, and come back as a stranger would.

1. Save it and close the project.
2. Do something else for at least ten minutes — the next challenge will do.
3. Open it again with every script window shut, so only the Stage is showing.
4. Play it start to finish, following ONLY what is on the screen.
5. Write down every moment you had to stop and think.

• You start it without opening a single script.
• Every button says what it does, without you remembering.
• You lose, and know exactly why you lost.
• You have written down every moment you hesitated, and fixed the worst one.

A pet that asks for what it wants

Instead of a general sad face, the pet should name the thing it is shortest of — and change its mind as the numbers move.

• The pet names the need that is lowest, not the first one it checks.
• It changes what it asks for when a different need becomes the lowest.
• It says nothing while everything is comfortable.
• It does not talk over itself.

when I receive [live v]
forever
  wait (2) seconds
  if <(food) < (fun)> then
    say [I would like some food.] for (1.5) seconds
  else
    say [Play with me!] for (1.5) seconds
  end
end
            

Summary 4 min

Pet Pal is finished. It is the second project you can leave running for somebody else, and the first one that keeps going while they think.

1. ask [] and wait is not only for questions. It is how a player names anything.
2. Every variable belongs either to the green flag or to one run. Write the two lists down.
3. A second message lets the clocks start after the naming, not before.
4. An ending card with a name in it makes the run feel like it was yours.

Adopt screen

The front page. What a player sees before a run starts.

Run

One game, from the start button to the ending card.

Nested join

A join inside another join, so a sentence can hold two things.

Game state

Everything a run changes, and therefore everything a new run has to put back.

Next lesson: the last arc of Level 1, and the first game two people play at the same keyboard.