Today you are going to explore a new program – Scratch.  Put your headphones on and watch the video below.  It might take some time to load.

Task 1 – Your first project

Open scratch by clicking on the icon on your desktop.  Now click on the “want help” button at the top on the right hand side.  Click on the “Getting Started” link and follow the instructions – there are also some printed guides available as well if you prefer.

Task 2 – Exploring

Have a look on the scratch website for some example projects.  Want to know how they work?  Download them and open them in scratch to see the code. 

As you saw in the video, one way of seeing how scratch works is to open up existing projects, make changes to the code and see what happens.  There are lots of sample projects available if you click on the open button.

Creating a game 

Now you are going to create a simple game using Scratch.  Your game will involve clicking on sprites which appear on the screen to gain points.

Play MrCs Top Game and see who can get the highest score.  You will find it easier if you play in presentation mode (remember your headphones!) General:/ICT/Scratch Projects

Task 1 – setting up your sprite

Choose a sprite which will gain you points if you click on it.  If it is big, resize it otherwise it will be too easy to click on.  You will need to write a script for your sprite which will hide your sprite for a couple of seconds, move it to a random position on the screen and then show it again.  To write this script you will need the following commands (some you will need more than once);

• when (green flag) clicked 
• forever
• hide
• wait
• go to x: y:
• pick random 1 to 10
• show

Help each other out and see how you get on.

Task 2 – keeping score

Everytime you click on your sprite your score should increase by one.  To do this you need to make a variable called score.  Once you have made your score variable you need to write a script which will set your score to 0 at the start of the game and then everytime you click on your sprite the score increases by 1.  You will need to use the when sprite1 clicked control.

Task 3 – improving your game

1. Add a background picture to your stage.
2. Add background music to your stage
3. Add a sound when your sprite is clicked. 
4. Adding other sprites – you can add other sprites which could be different sizes and appear for different lengths of time.  They could have different points values depending on how hard or easy they are to click on. 
5. Penalty sprites – add a sprite which you shouldn’t click on, if you do you lose points….
6. Adding a time limit – you will need to create another variable called timer which adds 1 to its value after waiting for 1 second.  You will also need to use repeat until and stop all.
7. Add a stage background which gives instructions.
8. Add a stage background which tells you the game is over.