Week 1: Programming player controls with inputs and outputs

In week 1 students will make their first level, add a player character to their game, and program it to move around inside their level.

Week 1 programming concepts:

Inputs
Outputs
Event-driven programming
Sequencing
Iteration (loops)

1: Setting up your game

You’ll be creating a new game
You’ll be getting a pack from the marketplace
Placing an object in the level to become the player object
Moving and deleting objects
Creating tilemap layers
Get the tracer map in joes pack
Using minimap and using pan tool
Draw tiles into a tilemap
Erasing tiles

Test game
Save game
In the next step we’ll program a player character to move

To help get you started we’ve created some game art for you to use. We’ve included ‘Nga Tākaro’ in the Gamefroot marketplace.

Are you ready? Let’s start by creating a platform for your game characters to move around on. Watch this video and follow along.

2: Coding a playable character

Adding script to player
“When backspace/delete pressed” from events
Change backspace to right arrow
Set “velocity x 0” from physics
Change 0 to 200

Press play
Save script name
Preview game and press right arrow to test
Close game to return to script
In the next step we’ll get the rest of the arrow keys working

In a video game, the player controls the playable character directly.

In this step you will program the player controls in your game. Watch this video to see how to add and write a script to the player object that make it move on key press.

3: Coding a playable character continued

(if you’ve closed the script you can edit it by right-clicking and edit script)
Duplicate “When right arrow pressed” block
Change to when left arrow pressed
Explain negative x is to the left
Change velocity 200 to -200
Duplicate again
Change to up arrow
Change velocity x to y
Explain negative y is up
Change to -500

Play the game to see it moving
In the next step we’ll add gravity in

So far your character can only move to the right. You’ll fix that by adding more code to the player character. Watch the video below to learn how to add more directions with the up and left arrows.

4: Adding Gravity

Gravity should start working as soon as the level starts, so grab “When the level starts” from events
“Set gravity x 0” from physics
Change 0 to 800
By default objects won’t react to gravity, so grab “Set reacts to gravity true” from physics

Play game
In the next step we’ll stop the player from continuing to move when we release the arrow keys

Video game physics are there to mimic things in real life like motion and gravity, and to make your game more fun. In this step we will show you how to include gravity in your game. This will make game objects, like your character, fall back down when they jump.

Watch the video below. Follow along and learn how to add gravity to your game.

5: Detecting when a key is released

Duplicate when left arrow pressed
Change pressed to released
Change velocity to 0
Duplicate when right arrow pressed, change to released, change velocity to 0

Play game
In the next step we’ll make the camera follow us so we can see where the player moves to

You have coded player controls for moving left, right and jump. Now you need to add code to stop the player from moving when they release the key - this is called an event.

Watch the video below, follow along and learn how to code responses to events; in this case when you stop pressing a key.

6: Cameras in platform games

“Constantly” from events (this is a loop)
“Center camera on myself” from looks

Next week we’ll add some deadly obstacles to our game.

In video games the playable character dictates where the screen should be the focus. In a platform game the camera should closely follow the player.

Watch the video below to make the game’s camera follow the player.

7: Running animation

"Play animation name" from Animation
Drag animation block into key-press blocks
Replace "name" with "run" in animation block
Duplicate "play animation run" blocks and place duplicates in key-release blocks
Change duplicates from "run" to "idle"

Animation brings static objects to life. The player character should look like they are running while they move around.

Watch the video below to trigger the player's running animation.

Week 1