T2W3: More MakeCode Arcade Tutorials

For our third class, we will continue the "learning path", and finish the MakeCode Arcade Skill Map we started last week. The third sequence is the most game-like, and goes through making a baby dinosaur collection game, but feel free to customize it how you would like - maybe a hungry shark collecting pizza slices under the water?

Visit the MakeCode Arcade Skill Map. Click the "Sign In" button at the upper right and log in using your Lowell school account (both are managed by Microsoft) - this will let you save your progress (at least that's what they claim). If you progress wasn't saved you can try reloading your previous program if you saved it. Click the "Home" icon at the upper right to go back to the MakeCode Arcade home page. Click the "Import" button on the right side of the screen by "My Projects", then click "Import File", then "Browse", and in the file explorer find the latest version of your project saved as a *.UF2 file (look in the "Recents" folder).

Another good resource for more advanced game techniques is the Game Maker Guide tutorial, which shows how to do projectiles and enemies in a space game, and cameras, tiles, levels, and enemies in a platformer game.

As you do the tutorials, think about what type of game you would like to design. There are some standard game types that work well with the PyGamer hardware and MakeCode Arcade software, and people have made examples and even step-by-step tutorials that you can follow to learn programming techniques for your game.

Once you are finished with the beginner tutorials, find one that is similar to your game and see how they programmed it:

Save The Forest - firefighting game on grid of trees

Shark Splash - swim around, find food, avoid submarines

Turkey Day - jumping vertical platformer

Rockstar Maze - Collect items in a maze and avoid fans

Jungle Monkey Jump - side-scrolling platformer

Space Adventure Game - Steer a spaceship, shooting aliens and collecting power ups