Non-Graded Activity
Exploring other forms of Interaction

This activity doesn't actually involve programming. Instead, it is just a reflection activity to get you to think about games

One good way to get a feel for all the different ways that things can be done is to look at a bunch of existing programs and see how they work - to answer the question “how did they (the programmers) do that?” In this activity you won't be creating any code yourself. Instead you will be looking at several existing programs and answering both broad and specific questions about how certain things were accomplished in the code.

Assignment Specifics

One at a time look at the following programs. For each of the programs consider five common questions and then any game specific questions.

Code Sample #1_Kaleidoscope https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/65161508/#editor 

Common Questions:

• What happens when you press the green flag?
• Is the game controlled by the keyboard or the mouse (or both)?
• Take some time to look at the code for each of the sprites and the stage. How did the programmer get the game to “work”
• What new feature(s) did you discover while exploring this code?
• What kinds of games/programs could you create using this feature?

Game Specific Questions:

• [Question 1] There are three sprites named “Sprite1”, “Sprite2”, and “Sprite3” One at a time look at the script for each of these three sprites. What do these three sprites have in common?
• [Question 2] How do these two sprites differ (you should be able to find at least two ways).
• [Question 3] Run the program by pressing the green flag. Describe the program. How do you use the program? What does it do?
• [Question 4] How did the programmer make the “cursors” move around the screen?
• [Question 5] What is the advantage of having a series of "when ____ arrow pressed" actions rather than incorporating these under a single “when Green Flag pressed” block. (I don’t expect you to know the “right” answer for this question but see if you can figure out an explanation/answer)

Code Sample #2_mazerbot https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/65156048/#editor 

Common Questions:

• What happens when you press the green flag?
• Is the game controlled by the keyboard or the mouse (or both)?
• Take some time to look at the code for each of the sprites and the stage. How did the programmer get the game to “work”
• What new feature(s) did you discover while exploring this code?
• What kinds of games/programs could you create using this feature?

Game Specific Questions:

• [Question 6] Run the program by pressing the green flag. Describe the program.
• [Question 7] What is different about the way that the arrow presses are handled in this game versus the first game?
• [Question 8] How does the game detect if the bee hits the wall?
• [Question 9] How does the game detect if the bee reaches the finish line?
• [Question 10] How did the programmer make it so that the start and finish lines “flash” ?

Code Sample #3_Pong https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/65162326/#editor 

Common Questions:

• What happens when you press the green flag?
• Is the game controlled by the keyboard or the mouse (or both)?
• Take some time to look at the code for each of the sprites and the stage. How did the programmer get the game to “work”
• What new feature(s) did you discover while exploring this code?
• What kinds of games/programs could you create using this feature?

Game Specific Questions:

• [Question 11] Run the program by pressing the green flag. Describe the program.
• [Question 12] How did the programmer make the paddle follow the mouse cursor?
• [Question 13] How did the programmer make it so that the ball bounces when hitting the paddle?
• [Question 14] How did the programmer make it so that the ball bounces when it hits the walls/ceiling?
• [Question 15] How did the programmer make it so that ball knows when it misses the paddle and hits the floor?

Code Sample #4_FortuneTeller https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/65162486/#editor 

Common Questions:

• What happens when you press the green flag?
• Is the game controlled by the keyboard or the mouse (or both)?
• Take some time to look at the code for each of the sprites and the stage. How did the programmer get the game to “work”
• What new feature(s) did you discover while exploring this code?
• What kinds of games/programs could you create using this feature?

Game Specific Questions:

• [Question 16] Run the program by pressing the green flag. Describe the program. (Be patient when running the program as it might appear to be over before it is).
• [Question 17] How did the programmer create the “fade out, fade in” effect?
• [Question 18] How did the programmer create the different responses to your question?

Code Sample #5_TalkingPicture https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/65162588/#editor 

Common Questions:

• What happens when you press the green flag?
• Is the game controlled by the keyboard or the mouse (or both)?
• Take some time to look at the code for each of the sprites and the stage. How did the programmer get the game to “work”
• What new feature(s) did you discover while exploring this code?
• What kinds of games/programs could you create using this feature?

Game Specific Questions:

• [Question 19] Run the program by pressing the green flag. Interact with the program by clicking on various characters. Describe the program.