Studio build: mechanics that make it a game
Ākonga add scoring, lives and simple motion rules, then playtest with a classmate and change one mechanic based on what the playtest actually showed.
- Coding Studio move: Playtest note plus one evidence-led mechanic change
- Evidence it produces: A playable build and a recorded reason for the change made
Lesson 7: Game Design Mechanics: Scoring, Lives & Basic Physics
Developing computational thinking through Scratch block coding, algorithms, and Te Ao Māori perspectives.
🎯 Ngā Whāinga Akoranga | Learning Intentions
Core game mechanics (score tracking, lives system, win/loss conditions, simple gravity/jumping physics), and game balancing.
Build an interactive arcade game incorporating score variables, lives countdown, moving obstacles, and win/loss broadcast screens.
🎥 Media Anchor & Pedagogical Scaffold
Scratch — Variables for Score and Lives
Video Clip: Shows how to set up score and lives variables in a Scratch game — initialising them at the start, incrementing score, decrementing lives, and checking for game over.
🧠 1. Before Viewing (Activate & Predict)
What elements turn a basic moving animation into an engaging, challenging video game?
👁️ 2. During Viewing (Watch With a Job)
- Watch the full clip. Note how variables are initialised ("set [score] to 0") at the start of the game — why is this important?
- Identify the two "change" blocks used: one adds to score when a reward is collected, the other subtracts from lives. What triggers each one?
- After watching, add both a score and a lives counter to your game project, and add a conditional that ends the game when lives reach zero.
🗣️ 3. After Viewing & Kaiako Move (Process & Apply)
Kaiako Move: Provide starter template project with graphics assets so students focus on programming game mechanics.
Immediate Task: Complete Section 7 of your Digital Tech Logbook: Game Mechanics Architecture & Playtesting Feedback.
⚡ Whakaoho | Do Now: What the Score Changes (10 mins)
Name a game you know that uses score, lives, or both. Write one sentence: what exactly changes on screen when the score goes up? Today you build that change yourself instead of just playing it.
📖 Activity 1: Mechanics First — Score, Lives, Game Over (25 mins)
Open the starter template (graphics are pre-loaded so the thinking stays on the mechanics) and build the rule set with the projector: set [score] to 0 when the flag is clicked, change [score] by 1 when the player touches the target, change [lives] by -1 on a hit, and if <lives = 0> then broadcast [game-over]. Playtest in pairs: does the score change at exactly the moment the rule says, or somewhere else? Then add one mechanic of your own — a timer, a bonus item, a speed-up — and write down its condition and its change.
📝 Activity 2: Digital Tech Logbook & Code Reflection (20 mins)
Draft your formal Digital Tech Logbook entry for Lesson 7. Apply exact programming vocabulary (e.g., score, lives, change by, condition, game over, mechanic) to explain your code decisions.
🏫 Kaiako Planning & Pedagogy Notes
Year 7 Curriculum Alignment: Game mechanics — scoring, lives and simple physics (NZC Technology; Te Mātaiaho Phase 3) — variables and conditions from Lessons 4–5 become a real rule set.