Session Lesson Plan

3 - Adventure Game Pt. 1

Developed by Roblox

After learning the basics of using Roblox Studio and scripting, students take their skills further by starting a more complex project, the adventure game. They'll plan out elements of their game, create a virtual world, and setup basic gameplay components like keeping track of player items.

10 and up Computer Science Game Design

English 1 hour

ISTE Standards: N/A

Learning Objectives:

Practice pre-production by planning out elements of a game and creating them in Roblox Studio.
Demonstrate knowledge of variables and functions by creating a script to keep track of player information.

Skills and Concepts:

Game Mechanic - An action players do in a game, like run or collect. Games are made of multiple game mechanics.
Pre-production - Planning out projects, such as by drawing sketches, before creating in a software like Roblox Studio.

Getting Ready

Preparation:

Print out handouts

Materials:

Lesson Overview

5 min	Introduction	Introduce the project
10 min	Guided Work Planning a Game	Create a vision document to plan out elements of the project.
10	Guided Work Creating the World	Design an environment using terrain tools based off the previous vision document.
30 min	Guided Tutorial Setting up Gameplay	Code scripts to keep track of player items and build the first item players will collect.
5 min	Wrap Up	Recap the lesson and concepts learned.

Lesson Plan

Introduction 5 min
Explain that students will be using skills learned in previous sessions to build a game over the next three sessions. They will: Plan out their unique world using a vision document. Recreate the world in Roblox Studio. Code custom items(e.g. cupcakes, trees, etc) for players to collect.

Guided Work - Planning a Game 10 min
Lead students through Intro and Setup - Planning a Game. Students will make a quick vision document for their project. It doesn't have to be exact. As students draw their starting area, keep in mind the following. Areas drawn should be achievable in scale - such as a house with a front lawn or a simple forest vs a detailed city block. This helps focus students and they can always add more when finished. Drawings don't have to be complex - simple symbols like circles and squares are enough.

Guided Work - Planning a Game

10 min

Lead students through Intro and Setup - Planning a Game.

Students will make a quick vision document for their project. It doesn't have to be exact.

As students draw their starting area, keep in mind the following.

Areas drawn should be achievable in scale - such as a house with a front lawn or a simple forest vs a detailed city block. This helps focus students and they can always add more when finished.
Drawings don't have to be complex - simple symbols like circles and squares are enough.

Guided Work - Creating the World 10
Lead students through Intro and Setup - Create the Setting. Briefly show students each terrain tool at once and give at most six minutes to create their starting areas. They can always add more later.

Guided Tutorial - Setting up Gameplay 30 min
Lead students through the following tutorials: Creating a Leaderboard Harvestable Items

Wrap Up 5 min
Recap what students have created and vocabulary: game mechanic and pre-production. [Optional] Have students to reflect on the mid-point of their sessions by asking one or more of the following questions: One thing that was challenging but how they overcame it. One skill you're looking to improve over the next two sessions (e.g. better at troubleshooting, making more interesting worlds, etc). What was the most exciting thing you accomplished today. How did you do that and why was it exciting?

Wrap Up

5 min

Recap what students have created and vocabulary: game mechanic and pre-production.
[Optional] Have students to reflect on the mid-point of their sessions by asking one or more of the following questions:

One thing that was challenging but how they overcame it.
One skill you're looking to improve over the next two sessions (e.g. better at troubleshooting, making more interesting worlds, etc).
What was the most exciting thing you accomplished today. How did you do that and why was it exciting?

Appendix

Troubleshooting Tips
Setting up Gameplay The name of the `leaderstats` variable must be `“leaderstats”`. Without this, the script won’t know to create a new leaderboard. The Adventure Game reference handout helps students keep track of variable names. This is especially useful if they replaced default variable names, like `“Gold”` with something of their own, like `“Rubies”`. Remind students to build everything using parts, not by using the Toolbox. Using the Toolbox may introduce unexpected issues into their games.

Troubleshooting Tips

Setting up Gameplay

The name of the leaderstats variable must be “leaderstats”. Without this, the script won’t know to create a new leaderboard.
The Adventure Game reference handout helps students keep track of variable names. This is especially useful if they replaced default variable names, like “Gold” with something of their own, like “Rubies”.
Remind students to build everything using parts, not by using the Toolbox. Using the Toolbox may introduce unexpected issues into their games.

Classroom Management
Facilitation Tips As students work on their project, help them keep in mind a reasonable scale of what they can accomplish by the end of the sessions. See the downloadable project example as a reference for what students might have by the end of the sessions. If students have ambitious goals (I want to build three different worlds in my game), remind them to focus on their goals for today's current session. Have them write down their additional ideas on the vision document. Timing Notes Set strict expectations as to how much time students can spend working on their starting area. They can always continue in later sessions.

Classroom Management

Facilitation Tips

As students work on their project, help them keep in mind a reasonable scale of what they can accomplish by the end of the sessions.

See the downloadable project example as a reference for what students might have by the end of the sessions.
If students have ambitious goals (I want to build three different worlds in my game), remind them to focus on their goals for today's current session. Have them write down their additional ideas on the vision document.

Timing Notes

Set strict expectations as to how much time students can spend working on their starting area. They can always continue in later sessions.

Customizing the Lesson

Customizing the Lesson
Simplify the Lesson If running low on time, the section Planning a Game can be optional. Expand the Lesson Students can spend more time building out their starting area using the terrain tools or adding decorative parts. If students are unclear what to add, ask questions about what objects they'd expect to find in that themed world (E.g. If you were on a moonbase, what would you see? How can you build that using parts?) Students can add more than one type of item to harvest. Just remember that each item follows the same organization in the Explorer and has a BoolValue named `CanHarvest` set to true.

Simplify the Lesson

If running low on time, the section Planning a Game can be optional.

Expand the Lesson

Students can spend more time building out their starting area using the terrain tools or adding decorative parts.

If students are unclear what to add, ask questions about what objects they'd expect to find in that themed world (E.g. If you were on a moonbase, what would you see? How can you build that using parts?)

Students can add more than one type of item to harvest. Just remember that each item follows the same organization in the Explorer and has a BoolValue named CanHarvest set to true.

Misc. Resource
Final Project Example - An example of the final project with all included scripts.

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