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:

Go to Newcomers Activities

Scratch 1 (Beginner)

Escape Game

Today you will create an escape game in which a player must avoid other sprites that move randomly. Click on the link below and follow the instructions in the videos.

Click here for instructions for the Escape game project

Scratch 2 (Intermediate & Advanced)

Finish Off the Google Chrome Dino Game

Part 1 – scrolling the ground:

(graphics here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HHHACJn-fGwXVyZXQ9mUL-_UgnE9pP3o)

Solution to part 1

Part 2: Get T-Rex to jump

Can you do this bit yourself without any instructions? Try to add some scrolling cactuses for T-Rex to jump. Do you know how to jump? If you’ve coded platformers before, you know ow to make a sprite jump.

If you’re stuck, here’s a ‘quick and dirty’ tutorial showing one way to do it (these instructions are a bit hard to follow so ask Aidan for help if you can’t follow it):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShVggPFWavk

Solution to part 2

Part 3: Add the cactuses for T-Rex to jump over

The code for this will be very similar to the code for making the ground scroll.

Solution to part 3

Part 4: Add pterodactyls and clouds. Add scoring.

The cloning and scrolling code for the pterodactyls and clouds will be similar to scrolling the cactuses. The clouds will scroll a bit slower so that they appear in the distance (parallax scrolling). The pterodactyls will scroll a bit faster so that they appear to be moving relative to the ground.

Solution to part 4

Part 5: Finish the game

Can you finish it yourself?????

Here’s what needs to be done:

  • Day/Night – no need for additional costumes, you can use brightness! (note: if you add 100% brightness to black it becomes white!)
  • Print scores using custom font (see this video tutorial to learn how to render text)
  • Speed up as game goes on – Should be as easy as changing the scrollspeed variable!

Graphics and sounds for the game

You can find all the graphics and sounds here:
Graphics and sounds for T-Rex Runner

Introduction to Robotics

This session is run by Nathalie. An introduction to robotics using mBot robot kits and a block programming language called mBlock which is similar to Scratch.

Introduction to Robotics session information

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