(I'm not that old, 42.) In a nutshell: I learned by typing in games on the Vic 20 and fixing the errors that the mag editors didn't catch. Of course, I took classes on programming later in school, but I want to get my kids to feel the joy of creating a game first.
Question: Is there some code for Scratch for how to make a game? Target audience is 4th and 5th graders. Simple game at first, progressing to more difficult.
Thanks in advance!!!

Welcome to Scratch! And what exactly do you mean by “code for making a game”? If you're referring to text-based code, there is none in Scratch it is completely made up of blocks. Some resources that may help you are the Scratch Wiki, the help with scripts forum, and I also have a tutorial project here that may help getting started with Scratch. What's nice about Scratch is a user-friendly interface, no text-based programming, and yet still many advanced capabilities of other programs.

Hi! Welcome to Scratch! There're just the blocks on Scratch. Click create to see them!

Thanks Turkey3. I think I'm asking about game programming… waiting for key presses at specific points to make the character do something. I'll look at your links to get me started. Thanks!

Try dragging bits and bobs around and doing drawings. It's one of those look-and-learn things, you'll figure it out.

qadie wrote:

Thanks Turkey3. I think I'm asking about game programming… waiting for key presses at specific points to make the character do something. I'll look at your links to get me started. Thanks!

Try the Events tab. There's some useful stuff in there; I think you're looking for something akin to

when [space v] key pressed //starts the attached script
say [YOU DID IT!!!!!] for (2) secs //something fun happens!

Having someone teach you how to make a game is easier and more relevant when you get to pick some things like what it's about, the graphics, story, etc. Just explore with the scratch blocks – you said you programmed before, so after the click-drag novelty wears off it should come naturally.

and don't forget to have fun

(edit: (I'm not that old, 42.) – old by Scratch standards )

qadie wrote:

Is there some code for Scratch for how to make a game? Target audience is 4th and 5th graders.

Scratch is a language optimized for the programmer to “make a game”. It has a built-in event driven model (when this event happens, do series of commands) as well as built-in sensing (how close am I to X, point towards Y, etc).

The biggest difficulty I have/had with Scratch coming from other languages is the way variables are scoped, not having return values from blocks, etc.

If you need help, the community is all about that.

Cheers,
Joshua

how do i make a stage or background move

blinkz wrote:

how do i make a stage or background move

Plaese write your questions in the Help with Scripts Forum in future!
but here an answer anyway: You can't make the stage or background move but you can create a sprite as Background and make this move. I hope this helps.