Game Lab

Resources

Try the Computer Science Discoveries unit that introduces Game Lab

Unit 3: Animation and Games

Grades 7 - 9

In Unit 3, students build on their coding experience as they create programmatic images, animations, interactive art, and games. Starting off with simple, primitive shapes and building up to more sophisticated sprite-based games, students become familiar with the programming concepts and the design process computer scientists use daily. They then learn how these simpler constructs can be combined to create more complex programs. In the final project, students develop a personalized, interactive program. Along the way, they practice design, testing, and iteration, as they come to see that failure and debugging are an expected and valuable part of the programming process.

Sample Projects

Explore these sample projects and take the challenge to make them even better

Sunset shapesWatch the sun set. Challenge: Make the sky go dark once the sun has set.

Remix the project

Make your own characterUse your arrow keys to move the character around. Challenge: add more to the scene and make the character look like you.

Remix the project

BounceMove the platform to avoid the ball hitting the bottom. Challenge: Add different obstacles and points.

Remix the project

Project galleryCheck out projects other students have made and use them as inspiration for your own project.

View project gallery

Video library

Some of these videos appear in Unit 3 (Animations and Games) of the CS Discoveries course and are displayed here as a quick introduction to each of the main concepts from the unit. Check out each video to see how you can add new features to your project.