
Game Workshop
Interactive Game Design is a rapidly developing field that exists in the intersection of physical components and computer programming, where designers shape and construct new methods of gaming. We've put together a collection of resources to help you get started programming basic game mechanics that integrate physical components.
Scratch Overview
The first step in Interactive Game Design is to understand the basics of Scratch, the visual programming framework developed by the MIT Media Lab.
Lessons
Working With Assets
Assets refer to everything that is loaded into the game. These activities introduce how to work with assets in Scratch.
Lessons
Input and Basic Motion
Player input is the first step to interactivity. This article and project cover the basic motion and input relationship. Many of the mechanics that you’ll be working with in Scratch carry over into professional game design and programming.
Lessons
Code Best Practices
These articles and project introduce code commenting and code management. Building solid habits in regard to commenting is a valuable skill that carries over into all avenues of programming, regardless of the language or intent.
Lessons
Beyond Basic Motion
After you build an understanding of basic player input and character motion, the next step is to include more advanced mechanics and programming concepts. This section introduces the concept of animating the character motion as well as logic. Logic is one of the most crucial foundations in programming, and building a solid understanding of logic concepts in Scratch will prepare for any future programming endeavours.
Lessons
Sprite Interactivity
These next articles and projects build upon the previous sections by introducing more advanced game mechanics. You’ll begin to build out a physics engine for your game and include a collision detection system, and then you’ll begin integrating variables, another of the core concept of programming.
Lessons
Intermediate Programming Concepts
Arrays and functions are two core programming skills. These lessons introduce the basic concepts through Scratch.
Lessons
Additional Game Mechanics
These lessons cover some additional game mechanics that youth commonly want to include in their projects. Clones, scrollers, and an additional gravity lesson are included.