--- title: "Will it work in Arcade?" subtitle: "Arcade advanced skills · Final challenge: Power-ups and your own game · Lesson 11" --- # Will it work in Arcade? **Name:** {{field-24}} **Date:** {{field-15}} **Class:** {{field-15}} > **Key question:** Game studios choose an engine before they choose a game: a racing game, a card game and a platformer each need different tools. Picking the wrong one costs months. :::teacher-note **In one sentence:** Students judge which games suit Arcade by the building blocks each game needs, see that sprites pass through each other, change one building block to change a game's genre, then pitch and prototype a game that fits. **Students should be able to say:** I can list Arcade's building blocks and name the ones a game needs. I can say whether a game idea is built for Arcade, possible with work, or not a good fit, and why. I can explain why sprites pass through each other in Arcade. I can pitch a game that fits Arcade and prototype its core. **Width:** the unmarked parts are the floor every student does (predict, run, investigate and make). Typical adds the modify practice; wider adds the real-world contexts. They add contexts, not difficulty. Students work in the online tutorial alongside this sheet. ::: ## Predict Read the blocks. Each group is one building block of the game. ![The program as blocks](https://studio.learningwaypoints.com/tutorials/_pictures/makecode/code/6f24f9126715.png?v=2fe0899e07a99972) :::keep-together **This whole catching game is about 15 blocks. Which idea could you build quickest from the same building blocks?** ☐ Chess played with the mouse ☐ A tower of crates that topples over ☐ Dodge falling rocks ☐ A 3D kart racer My prediction, and why: {{lines-3}} ::: :::teacher-note **What happens:** Dodge falling rocks: it needs exactly the same building blocks (a sprite on the controller, things falling on a timer, an overlap), with a life lost instead of a point won. The other three each need something Arcade does not have built in. ::: ## Run Run the program in the tutorial. Was your prediction right? What was different? {{lines-2}} ## Investigate This program is Ben's test. Run it and watch the ball. ![The program as blocks](https://studio.learningwaypoints.com/tutorials/_pictures/makecode/code/0c343a783bcf.png?v=f9504b9bf6bb1b80) :::keep-together ### What does it need? **Match each game idea with the building blocks it needs most.** A. gravity, jumping and tile floors and walls B. projectiles, kinds and lives C. comparing positions every frame, or follow D. two players on one keyboard and bounce on wall E. a timer, falling speed and an overlap {{columns 60% 40%}} {{rows 1}} | Part | Letter | |---|---| | `Catch falling fruit` | | | `A space shooter` | | | `A platformer` | | | `Pong for two players` | | | `A zombie that hunts you` | | ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** Catch falling fruit → E. a timer, falling speed and an overlap; A space shooter → B. projectiles, kinds and lives; A platformer → A. gravity, jumping and tile floors and walls; Pong for two players → D. two players on one keyboard and bounce on wall; A zombie that hunts you → C. comparing positions every frame, or follow ::: :::keep-together ### Fit or not? **How well does Arcade fit each idea? Match each idea with its verdict and the reason.** A. Not a good fit: Arcade is only 2D, 160 × 120 pixels B. Possible with work: sprites cannot rotate, so you draw a picture for each direction C. Built for it: tilemaps make the walls, overlaps collect the keys D. Not a good fit: there is no physics engine that makes things push and tumble E. Possible with work: no mouse, so you move a cursor with the controller {{columns 60% 40%}} {{rows 1}} | Part | Letter | |---|---| | `Collect keys in a maze` | | | `Chess or a card game` | | | `A car that drives round corners` | | | `A 3D kart racer` | | | `Angry Birds with towers that topple` | | ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** Collect keys in a maze → C. Built for it: tilemaps make the walls, overlaps collect the keys; Chess or a card game → E. Possible with work: no mouse, so you move a cursor with the controller; A car that drives round corners → B. Possible with work: sprites cannot rotate, so you draw a picture for each direction; A 3D kart racer → A. Not a good fit: Arcade is only 2D, 160 × 120 pixels; Angry Birds with towers that topple → D. Not a good fit: there is no physics engine that makes things push and tumble ::: :::keep-together ### Ben's tower **Ben is testing a toppling-tower game. He stacks two crates and drops a ball on them with gravity. The ball falls straight through the crates and off the screen. Why?** ☐ Gravity only works on the player ☐ The ball is too fast to hit anything ☐ Crates must be of kind Enemy to be solid ☐ An overlap is only an event: nothing pushes or stops a sprite unless your blocks do it, and Ben has no overlap event at all ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** An overlap is only an event: nothing pushes or stops a sprite unless your blocks do it, and Ben has no overlap event at all Sprites pass through each other. An overlap tells your blocks that two sprites touch; then your blocks decide what happens. Stopping a ball is a few blocks (like the floor you built in Gravity and jumping), but stacking and toppling like real objects needs a physics engine, which Arcade does not have. ::: :::typical ## Modify **Catcher to dodger.** Change **one building block**: the apples become rocks of kind **Enemy**, and catching one now costs a life. **Dodger to shooter.** Add **one more building block**: a projectile. Now you can fight back. Three genres, nearly the same blocks. That is what "Arcade is built for it" means. Work in the tutorial. Plan first: what will you change, and how will you test it? {{box-4}} :::teacher-note **One possible solution.** Other correct programs are fine; check that the program runs and does what the task asks. **Catcher to dodger:** ![The program as blocks](https://studio.learningwaypoints.com/tutorials/_pictures/makecode/code/0a7ffd8b9444.png?v=a1d6fa4e5fefb60e) **Dodger to shooter:** ![The program as blocks](https://studio.learningwaypoints.com/tutorials/_pictures/makecode/code/45e54cde8465.png?v=08b39874282c6523) ::: ::: ## Make **Pitch card.** Write a **pitch card** for a game of your own, on paper or in a document: - **Genre** and a one-line idea (*"a bee collects flowers before winter comes"*) - **Building blocks** it needs - **The hard part**: the one thing Arcade has no block for - **Your workaround**: build it from the blocks, or change the idea so it fits Swap with a partner. If their game needs 3D, real physics or a mouse, help them find a version that fits. **Prototype.** Build only the **core** of your game: the player, one other sprite and what happens when they touch. No levels, no polish. If you do the optional lesson **Your own game**, you will grow this prototype into a full game. Work in the tutorial. Plan first: what will you change, and how will you test it? {{box-4}} :::teacher-note **One possible solution.** Other correct programs are fine; check that the program runs and does what the task asks. **Prototype:** ![The program as blocks](https://studio.learningwaypoints.com/tutorials/_pictures/makecode/code/8f19c4389549.png?v=dbe4f1d6fefbb1a7) ::: :::wider ## Change a car that turns Arcade sprites cannot rotate, so this car **swaps pictures** instead: left and right each show the car facing that way. Add **up** and **down** pictures too (draw the car from above). This is "possible with work": the engine has no turn block, so you build turning from blocks it does have. Work in the tutorial. Plan first: what will you change, and how will you test it? {{box-4}} ::: ## Exit ticket :::keep-together **Name one game Arcade is built for and one that is not a good fit, with a reason for each.** {{lines-3}} ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** For example: a space shooter is built for it (projectiles, kinds and lives are built-in blocks); Angry Birds is not a good fit (sprites do not push or topple; there is no physics engine). :::