Scratch Basic Skills

Objectives and Overview

The aim of this lesson is to introduce the basic level of skills that you should know. Remember, while Scratch is a great way to create games in itself, one of the purposes of Scratch is to become familiar with programming concepts that will transfer over to other game engines such as Unity. The Game Development Mini Project will require you to include each of these skills in addition to the ones covered in the Scratch Intermediate Skills lesson. Make sure to become familiar with each of these areas and the associated code blocks!

Lesson Objectives

  • Practice the basic Scratch skills outlined in this lesson
  • Identify and explain how conditional statements and loops work
  • Use these basic Scratch skills to create your own examples

Skill Areas

KeyPress

Create a script that causes something to happen when a key is pressed.

Keypress scripts are versatile and have a variety of applications. Some common uses include motioninteraction, and controls such as shooting a laser or jumping.

Sound Effect

Include an event that triggers a sound.

Sounds can be playing as a loop in a backdrop or as sound effects.

Motion

Create a script that causes motion. This can be for a sprite, an item, or something else entirely!

There are many methods for handling motion. You’ll find that you may prefer one way over another- just make sure to practice moving. This can be for a character, an item, a laser, or something completely different.

If Statement

Create a script using the If () then block. If statements are examples of conditional statements – an important aspect of programming.

An important use of these statements is to check conditions. This block allows for a quick check to see if something is true or not and then perform an action based on the result.

Loop

Create a script with a simple loop. This can be either a Forever loop or a Repeat block.

Loops are another important aspect of programming. Proper understanding and use will save you from having to enter the same code multiple times.

Additional Resources

If you’d like more information on each of these sections, check out this resource: Scratch Tools and Tricks PDF