Teach Your Kids to Code

Chapter 10. Game Programming: Coding for Fun

In Chapter 9, we combined animation and user interaction to make a fun app. In this chapter, we’ll build on those concepts and add elements of game design to create a game from the ground up. We’ll combine our ability to draw animations on the screen with our ability to handle user interaction, like mouse movement, to create a classic Pong-type game we’ll call Smiley Pong.

Games that we enjoy playing have certain elements of game design. Here is a breakdown of our Smiley Pong design:

• A playing field or game board. A black screen represents half a Ping-Pong board.

• Goals and achievements. The player tries to score points and avoid losing lives.

• Playing pieces (game characters and objects). The ...