Coding Flappy Bird with Scratch

Luke Storry

Contents
1 Introduction 3
1.1 You should already know: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 You will learn to: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 Let’s Begin 4
2.1 Create a new Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Replace the Main Sprite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 Replace the Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.4 Create the Obstacles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3 Programming the Bird 8

3.1 Initialisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.2 Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3 Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.4 Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

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 3.5 Finished Code for Bird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

4 Programming the Obstacles 10

4.1 Cloning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.2 Randomisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.3 Moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

5 Scoring 14
5.1 Make a new Variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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 1 Introduction
In this worksheet you will be guided through how to program your own
customised version of the popular Flappy Bird game in Scratch. This is a
really open-ended project, as there are always more improvements and
enhancements you can add into your game.

1.1 You should already know:

• the basics of how to use Scratch.
• about coordinates (x & y).

1.2 You will learn to:

• use variables
• use random numbers

• clone objects
• handle events

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 2 Let’s Begin
2.1 Create a new Project
Go to https://scratch.mit.edu and click ”Create” in the top bar. This will
start a new project.
Next you need to rename your project from Unititled to something more
relevant, like this:

2.2 Replace the Main Sprite

I want a flappy bird, not a cat, so let’s remove the default cat sprite:

...and replace it with a different sprite.

I chose this parrot, feel free to choose another animal if you want. (or draw
one if you’re feeling adventurous!)

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This is a bit big, so select shrink tool and click on the bird 15 times to shrink
it to a better size.

2.3 Replace the Background

Next up is to replace that boring background with something more fun.

I chose the Blue Sky background as I think it fits with my parrot, but again,
feel free to customise and choose your own background.

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 2.4 Create the Obstacles
The last thing we need to do before we start scripting is create the sprite for
our obstacles.

We need a few different costumes for the obsacles pipe, so we can vary
between them.

Hint: if you want your obstacles to look the same, you can use the duplicate
tool:

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 before erasing a gap.

It’s your game, change the artwork to be whatever you want, from butterflies
dodging flowers to spaceships avoiding planets.

Be creative!

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 3 Programming the Bird
In this section we are going to think about what code we should give our
”Bird” sprite.

3.1 Initialisation
This just means how we want the bird to be set up when the game is started.
Placing the bird back in the middle of the screen is a good idea:

3.2 Gravity
A simple way of giving the bird gravity would be to gradually reduce its
y-coordinate, using this block:

3.3 Flight
We next need to decide on what we’re going to use as input for this game. I
chose the spacebar, so my code block for flight looks like:

But you can choose any button you like.

3.4 Animation
Wouldn’t it be cool if the bird’s wings could flap when its flying? This can be
easily done by switching between different costumes:

The Parrot Sprite that I’m using contains two costumes with the wings in
different positions, but you can draw the different costumes if you prefer.

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 3.5 Finished Code for Bird
Therefore, the final code for the Bird sprite should look like this:

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 4 Programming the Obstacles
This next section builds up some scripts for the Obstacles sprite.

4.1 Cloning
We want the obstacles to keep coming until the game ends, but instead of
making loads of different sprites, we can make lots of copies of a single sprite.

Firstly, we need to make the original invisible:

and then repeatedly create a clone:

Overall, this looks like:

Now, we need to tell the Obstacles Sprite what to do when it is cloned:

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 The obstacle needs to start off to the right of the screen, but be centered in
the middle, so add in:

4.2 Randomisation
We want to select one of the costumes by random:

Next we should undo the invisibility, so the clone is visible. Try to find the
code piece that does that.

4.3 Moving
Now our cloning is set up, we need to make them move across the screen.

Similarly to the gravity in the ”Bird” sprite, we’re going to put a movement
piece inside a loop.
However, we want our loop to end when the sprite gets to the opposite edge of
the screen, so try combining:

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 and

to make the loop stop when the clone reaches the left edge of the screen
(where the X-coordinate is -250).
Once we don’t need a clone anymore, it is really important to delete it:

Now your code should look something like this:

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You might want to have a fiddle with the ”wait” and ”move” numbers here
and in the bird sprite, so that the game is as easy or as hard as you wish.

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 5 Scoring
In this section, we will go through how to keep track of our Score in the game.
To do this, we are going to use something called a ”Variable”, which is just a
way to store information.

5.1 Make a new Variable

Go to to your obstacle sprite, and in the Data section, select ”Make a
Variable”:

We want our Score to start at 0 each game, and then it to be increased by one
each time a new obstacle is cloned, so add the orange data blocks to your code:

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