- Learnt30 min · front door, reset, checklist, staying private
- Basic23 min · your remix, ready to share
- Challenge 1–327 min · a help key, a safe username, 7 of 7
- Extrabonus · the timed cold test
Review — your remix 5 min
- A remix starts from a copy, saved under a new name.
- A rule changes how a game plays; a look only changes how it seems.
- The credits name the original maker, in the project and on the Stage.
Quick-fire
Sam changed only the title of Jo’s game and called it his. Is that a remix?
Reveal the answer
No — that is copying. A remix makes at least one real change and names who made it first.
Today’s Topic 3 min
- A front door: a title, how to play, and a Play button
- A reset My Block, so the second game starts like the first
- A pre-share checklist, tested cold by a partner
- Staying private: what never goes in a project or a username, and what to do about a comment
Learning outcome
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- Give a project a front door a stranger can follow.
- Write a reset that puts back everything a game changes.
- Check a project against a list before anybody else sees it.
- Choose a username and answer a comment safely.
Learnt — ready for a stranger 30 min
1 · The stranger who was told nothing
Your partner knows your game. A stranger does not. Here is Star Rally played by somebody who was never told which keys move the paddle — so it never moves.
How to use this: Click the green flag to start it. Nothing else to press — this paddle never moves, like a player who was not told the controls.
2 · A front door
The green flag shows a title, a how-to-play card and a Play button. Nothing moves until Play is clicked.
when this sprite clicked
hide
broadcast [play v]
hide on play; the ball starts on when I receive [play v] instead of the green flag.How to use this: Click the green flag, read the card, then click Play.
The card says how to play in four lines. Write yours for somebody who has never seen Scratch: the keys, the goal, how it ends, how to start again.
3 · A reset
Variables, positions, costumes and effects all remember the last game. Press the flag twice, or play again, and round 2 starts wherever round 1 stopped:
How to use this: Click the green flag to start it. Nothing else to press — two rounds play back to back.
One My Block puts back everything the game changes, and every start calls it:
define reset
set [rally v] to (0)
set [lives v] to (3)
go to x: (0) y: (-128)
set [vx v] to (6)
set [vy v] to (10)
switch costume to (star v)
clear graphic effects
show
How to use this: Click the green flag to start it. Nothing else to press — two rounds play back to back.
4 · The pre-share checklist
Before anybody else plays it, a partner who has not seen your game tests it cold, and answers yes or no to seven checks. You watch, and you say nothing.
How to use this: Click the green flag to start it. Nothing else to press — Kiran reads the partner's answers.
5 · Staying private
You can share a game without sharing yourself. On Scratch, anybody in the world can read a shared project, its notes and its maker’s username. Nothing on that page may tell a stranger who you are or where to find you.
- Never in a project, its notes or a username: your full name, your school, your town or street, your age or birthday, a photo of you, a phone number or email.
- A first name is the most a project should carry — and a made-up username is better still.
- You do not need an account for any of this course. Save to your computer and share in class; if you do share online, a grown-up sets the account up with you.
This checker tests six usernames against your first name and three danger words:
if <<<(item (k) of [usernames v]) contains (name)?> or <(item (k) of [usernames v]) contains [school]?>> or <<(item (k) of [usernames v]) contains [age]?> or <(item (k) of [usernames v]) contains [20]?>>> then
say (join [Not safe: ] (item (k) of [usernames v])) for (0.8) seconds
end
contains with two round slots tests text. “20” catches a year like 2015.How to use this: Click the green flag, type your first name and press Enter. It is checked on this computer and saved nowhere.
6 · A comment arrives
Once a project is shared, people can comment. Three kinds, three answers:
How to use this: Click the green flag, then press 1, 2 and 3 to read each comment and what to do.
Basic — your remix, ready to share 23 min
Open your remix from Lesson 45.
Step 1 — the front door
- Add a title sprite and a how-to-play card. Write the card for a stranger: keys, goal, ending, restart.
- Add a Play button that hides and broadcasts
play. - Change the ball’s hat from the green flag to
when I receive [play v].
Step 2 — the reset
- Make a
resetMy Block with everything your game changes in it. - Call it at the start of every game.
- Add
when [r v] key pressed: stop the other scripts, reset, play again.
Step 3 — the checklist
- Swap computers with a partner who has not seen your game. Watch them play. Say nothing.
- They answer the seven checks. Fix the first “no”, then test again.
- Write your project’s notes: Instructions (how to play) and Notes and Credits (who made it, who you remixed, first names only).
How to use this: Click the green flag, then click Play. Press R to start again at any time.
The ball moves before Play is clicked.
One of its scripts still starts on the green flag. Only the reset-and-hide belongs there; the game itself starts on play.
R starts a second ball on top of the first.
The old game is still running. Put stop [other scripts in sprite v] first in the R script.
H for help
A player who forgot the keys should not have to start again to read the card.
- Press H: the game pauses and the how-to card comes back.
- After a moment the card goes and the game carries on.
How to use this: Click the green flag, then press H while the ball is moving.
Teacher reveal
when [h v] key pressed
set [paused v] to (1)
go to [front v] layer
show
wait (1.5) seconds
hide
set [paused v] to (0)
A safe username
Make a username maker: one word and one animal, picked at random.
- Two lists,
wordsandanimals, six of each. - Join a random item of each, five times, and say each one.
- None of them can ever contain anything about you.
How to use this: Click the green flag to start it. Nothing else to press.
Teacher reveal
repeat (5)
set [made v] to (join (item (pick random (1) to (6)) of [words v]) (item (pick random (1) to (6)) of [animals v]))
say (join [How about... ] (made)) for (0.9) seconds
end
Seven out of seven
Fix every “no” your partner found, then test again with a different partner.
- One fix at a time, tested before the next.
- The checker only says “Ready to share” when every check passes.
How to use this: Click the green flag to start it. Nothing else to press.
Teacher reveal
Count the yeses in a loop, then if <(passed) = (length of [checklist v])> then. Asking the length rather than typing 7 means a new check never breaks it.
The timed cold test
How long does a stranger take to score once the card has gone? Measure it, so you can make it shorter.
- The card shows for 1.5 seconds, then hides.
- Count frames from then until the first point.
- Say the count. Then make the card clearer and measure again.
How to use this: Click the green flag to start it. Nothing else to press — the computer plays as the stranger.
Summary 5 min
- A front door — title, how to play, Play — lets a stranger start without asking.
- A reset puts back every variable, position, costume and effect. Call it at every start.
- A partner tests cold; you watch and say nothing; fix the first “no” first.
- Nothing that says who you are or where to find you goes in a project or a username.
- Kind comments get thanks. Mean or personal ones get no reply — report them and tell an adult.
- Front door
- What a project shows before it starts: its name, how to play, and how to begin.
- Reset
- Putting everything back to how it was at the start.
- Cold test
- A test by somebody who has never seen the project, with no help.
Hand in
Save your remix with its front door, reset and notes. Next lesson it joins three more of your Level 4 projects in a portfolio.