Video Game Design and Coding · PLECK lesson

PLECK lesson 161 · suggested week 33, day 1

Build the promised content sequence

Objective. Arrange a beginning, practice and a concluding challenge.

Godot Engine Standard desktop editor 4.7.2-stable, GDScript (Godot 4), Compatibility renderer. Headless Godot 4.7.2.stable.official.ed1daf0bf passed 106 assertions on the supplied scaffolds, including malformed JSON saves. Audio used the Dummy driver and a synthetic WAV, not a speaker. The visual editor, browser export, and signed-in submission were not tested. The desk still does not run a student's own upload.

About 55 minutes. The due date is chosen by a parent.

Intentional pacing, original assets, comfort options and feature freeze

Suggested pace: Recall and predict 5 min; Read instruction and scaffold 12 min; Build or design the assigned artifact 25 min; Run acceptance tests 8 min; Explain and checkpoint 5 min.

Materials: Godot Standard 4.7.2 desktop editor (GDScript, Compatibility renderer), Local course folder and prior checkpoint, No paid assets or public account required.

Comes after VGC-L160.

Expand to the content amount in your proposal: a short route, several waves, six to ten story passages or a small set of resource goals. Use introduce, practice and combine as the sequence. Reuse the same tested mechanics; do not copy entire manager scripts for every room. Each content step needs a purpose and a reachable next step. Keep the target play length realistic. Remove padding that repeats a task without adding a new decision or understanding.

Worked example

A pacing sequence introduces a rule safely, gives a practice opportunity, then combines it with a familiar challenge. Longer content is not automatically better content. Scaffold C-STATES — Explicit game states and gated scoring Setup: Attach to Node root StateLab with child Label Status. This is a standalone demonstrator; call start_round, add_points, finish_round from buttons or Remote Inspector. In a real game the manager owns this state. Additional Player and spawner scripts must also honor the manager’s state, or be disabled when finishing. ```gdscript extends Node enum Phase { TITLE, PLAY, WIN, LOSE } var phase: Phase = Phase.TITLE var score: int = 0 func _ready() -> void: _show() func start_round() -> void: score = 0 phase = Phase.PLAY _show() func add_points(amount: int) -> void: if phase != Phase.PLAY: return score += maxi(amount, 0) _show() func finish_round(won: bool) -> void: if phase != Phase.PLAY: return phase = Phase.WIN if won else Phase.LOSE _show() func _show() -> void: $Status.text = "State: %s | Score: %d" % [Phase.keys()[phase], score] ```

Explicit game states and gated scoring

GDScript (Godot 4, not Scratch, Python, JavaScript or C#). Scaffold C-STATES. Copy starts from this text. The desk does not run it.

Scene and node setup

Attach to Node root StateLab with child Label Status. This is a standalone demonstrator; call start_round, add_points, finish_round from buttons or Remote Inspector. In a real game the manager owns this state. Additional Player and spawner scripts must also honor the manager’s state, or be disabled when finishing.

extends Node
enum Phase { TITLE, PLAY, WIN, LOSE }
var phase: Phase = Phase.TITLE
var score: int = 0
func _ready() -> void:
    _show()
func start_round() -> void:
    score = 0
    phase = Phase.PLAY
    _show()
func add_points(amount: int) -> void:
    if phase != Phase.PLAY:
        return
    score += maxi(amount, 0)
    _show()
func finish_round(won: bool) -> void:
    if phase != Phase.PLAY:
        return
    phase = Phase.WIN if won else Phase.LOSE
    _show()
func _show() -> void:
    $Status.text = "State: %s | Score: %d" % [Phase.keys()[phase], score]

Checks to run in the editor

Native Godot 4.7.2.stable.official.ed1daf0bf headless compile and representative node-tree/runtime tests passed; see native-qa-results.json. Visual UI, audible output, exports and website submission still need separate checks.

Build the promised content sequence — evidence task

  1. 1. Build the planned content sequence and label each section’s purpose.
  2. 2. Play the route from start to ending without editor intervention.

Deliverable. Content-complete checkpoint and pacing map.

Acceptance checks

Understanding question. Why is repeating the same easy task ten times not necessarily useful progression?

Include a downloadable project ZIP with project.godot, .tscn, .gd and original asset files when code changes. A private, teacher-accessible download link to that ZIP is equivalent. Screenshots or a playthrough do not replace editable source.

If this is still shaky. Add only the amount of content promised in the proposal. Reuse tested systems instead of duplicating new rule code per room. Start with the first assigned task and re-run its acceptance test before adding the remaining feature.

Optional extra. Create one optional challenge that does not block the main ending. Document one changed parameter, your prediction, and the observed effect; optional, not required for completion.

Name ____________________ Date ____________________