Game Studio III

Review — where we got to 5 min

• A bug is written as should and does.
• Five usual suspects: hat, message name, reset, delete, a loop in the way.
• Watchers show numbers while you play. A probe makes a sprite say what it knows.

Quick-fire

Your score goes up, but the game feels flat. Nothing is broken. What is missing?

Today’s Topic 3 min

• Screens by broadcast: title, how to play, the game, game over
• A sound for every good moment and every bad one
• Juice: a size pulse and a ghost fade
• A best score that the green flag never resets

Learning outcome

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

1. Build a title screen and an instructions screen with broadcasts.
2. Add sounds and one juicy effect to your game.
3. Keep a best score, and end on a game over screen with play again.

Learnt — from game to finished game 28 min

1 · Screens are messages

You met this in Level 1’s Arcade Cabinet. A screen is a broadcast. Every sprite answers every screen with show or hide.

Plan it as a grid first. Sprites down the side, screens along the top.

1. Click the Stage. Give it when flag clicked and broadcast [title v]. That is all the flag does now.
2. Add the signs and buttons. Give each one a stack for every screen it shows on.
3. On each button, add when this sprite clicked and a broadcast.
4. On the cat, change when flag clicked to when I receive [play v].

when I receive [title v]
go to x: (0) y: (-10)
show

when I receive [how to play v]
go to x: (0) y: (-140)
show

when this sprite clicked
broadcast [play v]

when I receive [play v]
hide
            

when I receive [play v]
go to x: (0) y: (-130)
show
forever
  if <key [right arrow v] pressed?> then
    point in direction (90)
    change x by (10)
  end
  if <key [left arrow v] pressed?> then
    point in direction (-90)
    change x by (-10)
  end
end
            

2 · Sounds and juice

Juice is the small stuff that makes a game feel alive. A sound, a pulse, a fade. Give every good moment and every bad moment one.

The star clone is deleted the moment it is caught. So it tells the cat with a broadcast, and the cat does the celebrating.

when I start as a clone
go to x: (pick random (-210) to (210)) y: (170)
show
repeat until <(y position) < (-170)>
  change y by (-4)
  if <touching [Cat Flying v]?> then
    change [score v] by (1)
    broadcast [caught v]
    delete this clone
  end
end
delete this clone
            

when I receive [caught v]
start sound [Collect v]
set size to (85) %
wait (0.1) seconds
set size to (70) %

when I receive [hit v]
start sound [Oops v]
            

The rock that hits you fades out with the ghost effect, instead of vanishing.

when I start as a clone
go to x: (pick random (-210) to (210)) y: (170)
show
repeat until <(y position) < (-170)>
  change y by (-6)
  if <touching [Cat Flying v]?> then
    change [lives v] by (-1)
    broadcast [hit v]
    repeat (10)
      change [ghost v] effect by (10)
    end
    delete this clone
  end
end
delete this clone
            

The ghost effect can fade things in, too. Here the title appears slowly.

when I receive [title v]
go to x: (0) y: (100)
set [ghost v] effect to (100)
show
repeat (20)
  change [ghost v] effect by (-5)
end
            

3 · A best score, and game over

The best score must live through the green flag. So the flag never touches it. Score and lives are set when a game starts instead.

when I receive [play v]
set [score v] to (0)
set [lives v] to (3)
go to x: (0) y: (-130)
show
repeat until <(lives) < (1)>
  if <key [right arrow v] pressed?> then
    point in direction (90)
    change x by (10)
  end
  if <key [left arrow v] pressed?> then
    point in direction (-90)
    change x by (-10)
  end
end
broadcast [game over v]
            

when I receive [game over v]
go to x: (0) y: (60)
show
start sound [Lose v]
if <(score) > (best)> then
  set [best v] to (score)
  say [New best!] for (2) seconds
end
            

when I receive [game over v]
stop [other scripts in sprite v]
delete this clone
            

Basic — polish your game 25 min

Take your own game, or Star Catcher, and work down the later list. One thing at a time, tested each time.

Step 1 — the screen grid

1. Write your sprites down the side of a page.
2. Write title, how to play, play and game over along the top.
3. Fill in every box: show, hide, or what it does.

Step 2 — title and how to play

1. Make the Stage broadcast title on the flag.
2. Add a title and two buttons. Add the how to play card.
3. Write the card: the keys first, then the goal, then how you lose.

Step 3 — change the hats

1. Every game script that started on the flag now starts on when I receive [play v].
2. Move the score and lives resets into the play script.

Step 4 — sounds and juice

1. Broadcast a message at every good moment and every bad moment.
2. Add a sound for each, on a sprite that stays.
3. Add one pulse or one fade.

Step 5 — best score and game over

1. Make (best), for all sprites. Never set it on the flag.
2. Broadcast game over when the game ends.
3. Add the GAME OVER sign. Let it check and set the best.
4. Stop the clone makers and delete the clones on game over.

Step 6 — play again

1. Give the PLAY button a second costume that says PLAY AGAIN.
2. Show it on game over, in that costume.
3. Play three rounds without pressing the flag.

Check your PLAY button against the finished one.

when I receive [title v]
switch costume to [play v]
go to x: (0) y: (-10)
show

when I receive [how to play v]
switch costume to [play v]
go to x: (0) y: (-140)
show

when I receive [game over v]
switch costume to [play again v]
go to x: (0) y: (-60)
show

when this sprite clicked
broadcast [play v]

when I receive [play v]
hide
            

A front door

Your game needs a way in that explains itself.

• A title screen with your game’s name on it.
• A how to play screen. The keys come first.
• PLAY works from both screens.
• Nothing from the game shows on the title screen.

Sound and juice

Every moment that matters makes a noise, and one of them makes a movement.

• A sound for every good moment.
• A different sound for every bad moment.
• A sound for the end of the game.
• One juicy effect: a pulse, a fade, or your own idea.

Best score and play again

The ending is part of the game. Make it one you can play on from.

• A game over screen that shows by itself when you lose.
• A best score that survives a new round and the green flag.
• PLAY AGAIN starts a fresh game: new score, full lives.
• No clones left over from the last round.

3, 2, 1, GO!

A countdown before every round, so the player is ready. The game must not start until it has finished.

when this sprite clicked
hide
broadcast [countdown v] and wait
broadcast [play v]

when I receive [countdown v]
go to x: (0) y: (20)
switch costume to [Glow-3 v]
show
wait (1) seconds
switch costume to [Glow-2 v]
wait (1) seconds
switch costume to [Glow-1 v]
wait (1) seconds
switch costume to [GO! v]
wait (0.5) seconds
hide
              

Summary 4 min

Same game as last week. It just feels finished now.

1. A screen is a broadcast, and every sprite answers it.
2. The flag only broadcasts title. A game starts on play.
3. Every good and bad moment gets a sound.
4. Juice is a pulse or a fade. Set the size; do not change it.
5. Best is never reset. Score and lives reset on play.

Screen

A broadcast, and every sprite’s show or hide for it.

Juice

Small sounds and effects that make a game feel alive.

Best score

The highest score so far. The flag never resets it.

Game over screen

The ending, with a way to play again.

Next lesson: ship it. Credits, a project page, a saved file, and a look back at all of Level 2.