PROGRAMMING – Game Play

COURSE DESCRIPTION

In this course, learners are going to create a game using an application designed to encourage them to experience the working environment a programmer would be familiar with.

Learners make use of the ‘Design Process’ to identify an appropriate object-oriented interactive environment. Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of “objects”, which may contain data, in the form of fields, often known as attributes; and code, in the form of procedures, often known as methods. Their core idea will be the focus of the design experience.

Learners will use the programming tool Scratch/Unreal Engine 4, to control a screen image. They will write instructions and sets of procedures using standard commands and the repeat function to create a game with multiple levels of complexity. They should begin to see how simple sets of instructions can be combined to produce outcomes. They will have the experience of ‘teaching’ the computer new words (i.e. the procedures) defined by the students themselves.

CERTIFICATION

Assessment is conducted through formative grading as well as a summative grade by way of a test to show that learners can demonstrate each of the learning objectives with no additional help from their teacher or their peers.

At the end of each module, the teacher grades the learner and completes a record of assessment (Learning Objectives Record Sheet) for each learner.

Learners will receive a Pass or Merit grade in each assessment. A learner’s overall grade will be a combination of the results of all modules.

To achieve a Pass in a module, learners must meet all the Pass criteria specified on the Learning Objectives Record Sheet. To achieve a Merit in a module, learners must achieve all the Pass and Merit criteria within that module.

iLearnSpace will award a Merit grade for each level where the learner has achieved Merit grades in the majority of modules taken at each stage or level.

TARGET GROUP

PROGRAMMING – Game Play modules are predominantly aimed at learners aged between 10 to 15 years. The qualifications are suitable for those in secondary education.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Plan a game. Prepare an abstract.
• Design for multiple levels of player complexity.
• Create a game logo and instructions screen.
• Attach scripts to sprites and insert backgrounds with appropriate action blocks.
• Create player complexity with the appropriate code, loops, and navigation.
• Complete game and test.
• Peer review game and adjust outcomes to reflect comments.