Game Engine Tools Timing Guide (90 minutes)

Audience: 10-14 year-olds, beginners or returning from JavaScript workshops.
Goal: give students experience using a game engine, specifically Godot.

0:00-0:10 - Welcome & Game Engine Icebreaker

  • Prompt: “What is one game mechanic you love?” (jump, gems, dash, etc.)
  • Set expectations:
    • We will experiment
    • We will make mistakes
    • We will read errors

0:10-0:20 - Godot Overview (Mental Model)

Show the Scene Tree and emphasize:

  • Nodes are building blocks
  • Scenes are saved bundles of nodes
  • Scripts attach behavior to nodes
  • Assets are images/sounds/fonts

Keep it concrete: point to each panel in the editor.

0:20-0:30 - Import Starter Project + First Run

Primary path (web editor):

Verification checklist:

  • Player moves left/right
  • Player jumps
  • Gems disappear on touch
  • No score shown yet
  • Character appears idle all the time

0:30-0:40 - Physics + Collisions (Guided Tour)

Focus points:

  • CharacterBody2D is the player
  • CollisionShape2D is “what can collide”
  • Area2D is “detect overlap” (gems)

Avoid deep math; keep it practical.

0:40-1:00 - Build Task 1: Animation States

Goal: idle/move/jump animation changes automatically.

Instructor flow:

  • Find the player node
  • Find the AnimatedSprite2D node
  • Open the player script
  • Implement a simple “state” decision:
    • if in air → jump
    • else if moving → move
    • else → idle

Checkpoint:

  • Jump shows jump animation
  • Running shows move animation
  • Standing still shows idle

1:00-1:10 - Build Task 2: Flip Direction

Goal: character faces left when moving left.

  • Use flip_h (or equivalent) on the sprite
  • Tie it to horizontal movement direction

Checkpoint:

  • Player faces the direction they run

1:10-1:25 - Build Task 3: Scoring

Goal: collect gem → score increases and UI updates.

Instructor flow:

  • Decide where score lives (player vs a game manager node)
  • Add a Label node in UI (if not present)
  • When a gem is collected:
    • increment score
    • update label text

Checkpoint:

  • Score changes when gems are collected

1:25-1:30 - If Time: Winner Message + Wrap-Up

  • Track gems remaining (count at start, or decrement on pickup)
  • When zero: show “You win!” label

Wrap-up questions:

  • “What did you change in the game?”
  • “What would you add next?”