Coding Games With Python Level 1

😁 Welcome to all beginner-to-intermediate coders! This course is an excellent choice for any young students over 9 years of age to learn how to code with Python using video games. 

🐍 Python is recognized as one of the best languages for any early programmer to learn and get the basics of variables, functions, classes, and other computer science topics which will be useful to them in any future coding projects they embark on. 

🔴 Here's what to expect: 
Students will receive a project that is mostly completed but is missing a few key parts that need to be fulfilled. Our wonderful instructors will demonstrate different parts of a given chapter and ask that each student tries to finish the chapter on their own but they can always ask for help. Then, once the game is finished, the students will be able to enjoy playtime, where they can play the game and try to compete for the highest score! Some of the concepts that will be taught during each meeting will be:
- What is Python
- Coding fundamentals
- Python fundamentals: Functions, exceptions, variables, strings,  if statements, classes, inheritance, while loops, for loops, lists, modules, and much more!

- Class 1: In this class, we start with the game Mint’s Quest, which is a platformer game. This game will provide an understanding of 2D rendering, with students being tasked with showing an image of the player character and of the items our player character is meant to collect. Additionally, students will gain a rough understanding of vectors and vector math for moving sprites from place to place. Learners will also understand how to create a counter and display text on the screen displaying said counter.
- Class 2: In this class, we will continue our understanding of Vectors with a physics-based cannon game. In this low-fidelity game, we will focus on the mechanics of a cannon game, assigning different vectors for the purpose of shooting a cannon ball to hit targets. Learners will also gain an understanding of spawning in targets over time, to make the game dynamic and more replayable
Learners will eventually get the targets to move as well and show the current score as text so that players can set their own goals for their score. Finally, missing a target that passes the screen will result in a game over, ending the execution of the game.
- Class 3: In this class, we’ll take a break from our more competitive games to make a creative game called SplatterPainter.
Learners will gain an understanding of how to use RGB values to determine colors and show them to the screen using Pygame functions. They will also learn how to display simple shapes using Pygame and use this knowledge to make a circular brush. They will then create a palette of colors to select from to make their paintings more unique and learn how to restart their drawing if they aren’t satisfied with it. Finally, they will create a Rainbow brush that will change colors based on the position they draw on the screen, which they can customize based on what colors they like.
- Class 4: In this class, we will get back into the lower-level aspects of python by creating a snake game clone of our own making and using different functions to manage displaying,moving, and accounting for upgrades to our snake.
This game will make use of vectors to describe our snake's position as well as the list of segments its body consists of. Most importantly, learners will learn to change the direction of the snake by inputting different directions and changing the “aim” of the snake to that direction. The learners will also learn how to check for fail-states in the game when the snake wanders out of bounds or intersects with itself.
- Class 5: In this class, students will work more closely with Pygame and learn how to make a complete game in the imperative style by making a game dodging incoming platforms by flying. Learners will gain a firmer grasp on creating instances and using predefined functions and removing said instances when they lose relevance in the game. Learners will also finalize their understanding of control flow by learning how to end the game on a collision and allow the player to restart the game on a key input.
- Class 6: In this class, students will learn how to recreate a popular io game about a blob that can eat different things and gain size, called Attack of the blobs. Learners will understand how to use variables to determine facets of a game instance, namely by changing the size variable of their blob based on different conditions. Learners will also learn how to use the mouse position for movement rather than keyboard inputs. Learners will also demonstrate knowledge of spawning in different instances within the play window, such as food and spikes to reduce the blob size.
- Class 7: In this class, learners will take more responsibility in making the game closer to a blank slate at first which will over time become a full-fledged brick-breaking game. Learners will be tasked with initializing all the bricks in the game as well as the paddle they’ll use to bounce the ball into the bricks. They’ll be making changes to get the ball and paddle to move as well as to get the score to be recorded and displayed in the game. They’ll check for collisions between different game elements and reduce the number of lives whenever the ball bounces behind the paddle, eventually resulting in a game over or a game win when they remove all the bricks.
- Class 8: Finally, students will either catch up on the games they haven’t yet completed or work on one of the most challenging games, which is a recreation of the game Pong. In the Pong game, learners will have to use pygame functions to handle the display of sprites and handle the iteration of the game directly, which until now has been handled for them. Learners will also be tasked with completing their own classes to make use of the Object Oriented Paradigm for organizational purposes.


👉 In addition, students will become familiar with researching documentation using the Pygame reference documents, which will be incredibly valuable when they are working on their own games in the future. With this course, your child will gain expertise in real-world applications of game development and be more familiar with making coding projects without external guidance in the future.

*IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS: 
Preparation Guide*
Children are required to complete a Preparation Guide upon registering for this course. This guide will highlight the requirements each child needs to meet in order to guarantee the success of the program. Please follow the Guide carefully and let us know if you have any questions before the beginning of the first class.

Remote Control Access*
In order to ensure the proper class development, our instructors might ask to remote control your child's computer during some parts of the class to help him/her with any technical difficulty that might arise.