Game Engine Tools - 90 Minute Workshop

Audience: Beginners (ages ~10-14)
Theme: “Using a real game engine to build a small 2D platformer”

• Recording ▶️
• Slides
• Resources:
  • How to Build the Starter Project (Video▶️)
  • Starter Project Zip
  • Glossary
  • Next Steps After Game Engine Tools
• Student Handouts:
  • Vocabulary Handout
  • Worksheet Handout
• Instructor Notes:
  • Common Questions
  • Timing Guide

1. Workshop Goals

By the end of this workshop, every student should be able to:

• Explain what nodes and scenes are in Godot
• Identify common node types used in 2D games (sprites, collisions, UI)
• Describe what physics does (gravity, collision, ground)
• Open and edit a GDScript file and run the game
• Add simple game features to a starter project:
  • Switch character animation: idle / move / jump
  • Flip the character horizontally based on direction faced
  • Add a score counter when collecting gems
  • (If time) Show a winner message after all gems are collected

2. Success Definition

A student is successful if they can say:

“I can open a Godot project, find the right node, and change code so the game behaves differently.”

3. Environment & Prerequisites

Primary Path (Recommended)

• Use the web editor: https://editor.godotengine.org/releases/latest/
  • If you have a local install of Godot, you can use that instead.
• Download the starter project zip from this repo:
  • game-engine/starter-code/platformer-starter-godot4.zip

Fallback Path

• Pair with another student who has Godot working