Flappy bird guide for Scratch

Introduction Flappy bird rose to popularity as an easy to play and addictive game at the end of 2013 It is a game where the user must navigate the bird through a series of pipes. It is stated that the creator (Dong Nguyen) made the game in 3 days, and has made up to $50,000 a day from advertising in the game. He is also sad that the game’s popularity has taken over his otherwise “simple” life Now it is your chance to see how easy it is to construct a game like this

Objectives Apply previous skills to put together basic blocks within Scratch to create an app-style game Extend knowledge about variables and how you can affect the difficulty within a game Outcomes L5 – Get most of the basic game working without help. Most of the parts about how the code is working have been filled out. L6 – Add the high scores table and fill out all the sections about how the code is working accurately. L7 – Add other extensions to the game (see last slides for ideas) L8 - Complete the ‘ultimate extension’ (see last slide)

Sprites for Flappy Bird If you are desperate to get the actual sprites (making your own is more fun!), I have included them here and in the folder. You can use the ‘import’ button to get them into your project from saved image files

Step 1 – Make your bird 1. Click on the ‘New sprite’ button 2. Create your bird, making sure that the costume centre is in the middle 3. On the costumes tab, copy the first costume to make two costumes, one with the wings up and one with the wings down

Step 2 – Make the bird flap 1. We want to make the bird look like it is flapping. Add the code to the right to do this and test it. How is the code above working? Explain below… (Insert your ideas here)

Step 3 – Make the bird ‘fly’ 1. On the variables tab, make a variable called ‘Y’ 2. Then you should be able to construct the code as shown to the right 3. Test your bird. Press the green flag. You should be able to control it with the space key

Explain how the bird code works How is the code working? Explain below… A Part A (Insert comments here) Part B (Insert comments here) B C Part C (Insert comments here) Part D (Insert comments here) D

Step 4 – Edit the background 1. Open up the stage and edit the background 2. The sky should be blue and there should be a green layer of grass at the bottom

Step 5 – Reset the game if the bird crashes 1. If the bird crashes into the ground, then we want to reset the game. Add the code to the right into your bird and test to see if it works How is the code above working? Explain below… (Insert your ideas here)

Step 7 – Make the pipes 1. You now need to make the pipes that flappy must navigate through Create a new sprite, zoom out fully and draw the pipes with a gap in the middle. Set the costume centre to exactly in-between the pipes as shown on the right

Step 8 – Code your pipes 1. For this part you will need to create a new variable called ‘score’ 2. Then, create the code as shown on the right for the pipes Then, test to see if this works

Explain how the pipe code works How is the code working? Explain below… Part A (Insert comments here) A Part B (Insert comments here) B

Step 10 – Create and code the instructions 1. Make a new sprite for the instructions 2. Use the text tool to create something similar to the image on the right 3. Add in the code for the instructions to appear/disappear when you want them to How is the code working? Explain below… (Insert your ideas here)

Step 11 – Adding the high scores logic 1. Make a new variable called high_score 2. Find the code in the bird for ending the game, and then add the code for the high score in How is the code above working? Explain below… (Insert your ideas here)

Step 12 - Extensions Can you make it so the variable ‘Y’ doesn’t show up on the screen? Before the game starts, let the player decide the difficulty level. Adapt difficulty by: Changing variables to do with bird/pipe movement Having different kinds/sizes of birds Have items to collect and a points system for this too Make the game two player Have a shop system so that every time you play, your score gets added to the total amount of coins, and then you can purchase costumes etc.

Step 13 – Ultimate extension Balloon kid was a game on the Game boy and was the sequel to ‘balloon fight’ on the NES. Here is a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBTBnFBipB0 The difference between this game and flappy bird are: The action is from right-to-left You can control the character’s position on screen to help dodging things There are more objects than pipes The character has 3 lives (balloons) These should keep you going for now. See if you can adapt your game!