Here are the activities that each group will be working on today:
Newcomers
If you are new to CoderDojo and new to computer programming this is where you start:
Scratch Guided – Beginner
1. Build a Basic Platform Game
Follow these instructions to build a basic platform game.
Click here for instructions for the Platform Game
After you complete the basic project try to complete all the add-ons to improve the game. If you don’t have time to do all the add-ons the best ones for improving the game are:
1. Bug Fix: Land on your feet … or not
2. Splash! You loose
3. Moving platforms
2. Make more improvements
Even with the add-ons, our platform game is still very basic and not working so smoothly. Here are some more things that could be improved:
- Have you noticed that if you keep pressing the up arrow key the player will keep rising? In a platform game the player should only be able to jump when he is on the ground or on a platform. Fortunately we can fix this easily with an if block.
- After the game is over you can still move the player. Why? Look at what events are being used to move the player. What do you notice? Do you see that these key press events will always be active? We can solve this problem by changing the way we move the player.
3. Start building your own Platform Game for ‘Show & Tell’
After tonight we just have one more session left before our final CoderDojo session on 5th April. In the final session we will do a ‘Show & Tell’ where you will get to show your project to everyone. Next week your task will be to make a platform game of your own, you can get started on it this week if you have time. You can start from scratch and build your own platform game or use what you have built in this project as a starting point to build your own platform game.
Scratch Guided – Intermediate
Build a platform game for ‘Show & Tell’
We just have 2 more sessions before our final session on 5th April. In the final session we will do a ‘Show & Tell’ where you will get to show a project that you have made to everyone. Your goal over the next 2 or 3 weeks is to build your own platform game for the ‘Show & Tell’. You can start form scratch or use the platform game tutorial that you have been working on for the last few weeks as a starting point:
Instructions for platform style game
It might also be helpful to look at some other tutorials on building platform games. For example have a look at this:
How to make a basic platformer
or this:
or if you want something simpler look at what the Scratch Guided – Beginner group are working on today.
Scratch – Freeform
Make something cool for ‘Show & Tell’
We just have 2 more sessions before our final session on 5th April. In the final session we will do a ‘Show & Tell’. Start working on something cool for ‘Show & Tell’.
Learn JavaScript
Continue working through the lessons on Khan Academy to learn JavaScript, just click the link below to get started. Use the login you have already created or if this your first time, start by clicking the Sign in / Sign up link in top right corner of screen and then click the Create a new account link to create a new account for yourself to track your progress.
https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/programming
Make something cool for ‘Show & Tell’
We just have 2 more sessions before our final session on 5th April. In the final session we will do a ‘Show & Tell’. Start working on something cool for ‘Show & Tell’. Just click “New program” on the programming homepage, and look at the documentation to remember how to do things.
You can browse projects that other people have created to get some ideas.
Raspberry Pi (with Microcontrollers and other cool stuff)
A collaborative group exploring how computers can interact with the outside world through a range of sensors and controllers. Primarily we’ll be using the Raspberry Pi (http://raspberrypi.org) computer in conjunction with Arduinos (http://arduino.cc) and along the way we’ll learn about Python, C and C++ programming, digital and analogue electronics and about working together.
Electronics, Microcontrollers and Raspberry Pi session information