CONGRATULATIONS ALL CAMPERS OF THE SUMMER CAMP 2025

Coding & Game Design: Lesson 1 - You're a Game Designer!

You might think that making a game starts with complicated code, but it doesn't. Every great game—from Minecraft to Roblox to Super Mario—starts with an idea. Today, you are going to be an Idea Factory. We're going to learn the secret ingredients for every game and then you'll design your very own game character and the world they live in.

How this works

  1. You will receive this lesson link to your email

  2. Any assignments should be sent as a reply email

Lesson Parts

  1. The Secret Ingredients of a Game

  2. Invent Your Hero!

  3. Build Your First Game Level

  4. You're a Game Designer!

Part 1: The Secret Ingredients of a Game

What are your favorite games to play? Think about video games, board games, and even playground games like tag or hide-and-seek.

It turns out they all share three secret ingredients.

  1. A HERO: This is who you play as! It could be a brave knight, a silly alien, or even your own custom avatar.

  2. A GOAL: This is what your hero is trying to do. It could be rescuing someone, finding treasure, reaching a finish line, or scoring a point.

  3. AN OBSTACLE: This is what makes the game fun and challenging! It's whatever gets in the hero's way, like an enemy, a tricky jump, a puzzle, or another player.

Assignment 1: Answer the following:

  • Think about the game of tag. Who is the Hero? What is the Goal? What is the Obstacle?

Part 2: Invent Your Hero!

This is where you get to be creative. You're going to design a brand new game character from your imagination.

Assignment 2: Your Instructions;

  • Grab a piece of paper and some markers or crayons/color pencilsm etc.

  • Answer these questions in your notebook or on the paper to bring your hero to life.

    • What is your hero's name?

    • What is their special power? (e.g., super speed, can turn invisible, shoots cheese from their hands?)

    • What makes them cool?

  • Now, in a big space on your paper, draw your hero! Give them a cool costume and an awesome pose. Don't worry about it being perfect—just have fun!

Part 3: Build Your First Game Level

Every hero needs a world to explore and a challenge to overcome. We're going to build the first level of your game right now using paper. This is called Paper Prototyping.

Materials You'll Need:

  1. A new, blank sheet of paper.

  2. Scissors.

  3. Tape or a glue stick.

  4. A small object, like a coin, a bottlecap, or a LEGO brick.

  5. Markers or crayons or coloring pencils

Assignment 3: Your Instructions;

  1. Draw the Game World: Take your blank sheet of paper and hold it sideways. This is your game level! Draw the background. Is your game in space? A spooky forest? A city made of candy?

  2. Create the GOAL: What does your hero want most? A treasure chest? A giant ice cream sundae? A portal to the next level? Draw this goal on one side of the paper.

  3. Create the OBSTACLE: What's getting in the way? Draw a monster, a spiky pit, or a tricky maze in the middle of the paper. This obstacle should make it hard to get to the goal.

  4. Make Your Hero Piece: On a smaller piece of paper, draw a small version of your hero. Cut it out, and tape it to the top of your coin or bottlecap. Now your hero can stand up and move around your game world!

  5. PLAY YOUR GAME! Place your hero at the start of the level. Use your finger to slide them around. Can you get past the obstacle and reach the goal?

Think like a game designer: Is your game too easy? Too hard? What could you add to make it more fun? Maybe a power-up (like a shield or a jetpack) that helps your hero get past the obstacle? Draw that in!

Part 4: You're a Game Designer!

Look at what you made! You created a character, a world, a goal, and an obstacle. You designed and played your very own game paper prototype. That's what game designers do!

Congratulations on creating your first game! In our next lessons, we'll start learning how to bring amazing ideas like this to life on the computer.