arrow_back Tell a Story

Many video games tell a story throughout game play. This video will show you how to change the characters, add dialogue, and create a starting scene for your game.

In this example, a hungry dinosaur wants to eat a bowl of cheesy puffs.

In this example, two frogs need to be reunited.

By changing the look of the project and adding some story elements, you can make your game unique!

An easy way to customize your game is to change the costumes of the sprites. First, select the player sprite. Click the costumes tab, then click “choose costume from library.

This example selects a dinosaur sprite, but you can choose anything you like.

Next, choose a costume for the goal sprite. This example uses a bowl of cheesy puffs.

Now that you’ve changed your sprites, add “say” blocks to develop the story. Select one of the sprites, and make it talk. This example uses “say” blocks to make the dino say “Roar! - I’m so hungry!” Or, tell users how to play your game, like, “Help me get to the cheesepuffs!”

Add more “say” blocks to your project to complete the story. Add a “when flag clicked” block above the “say” blocks to make the sprites talk when the project starts. Next, add a title scene to your project. Many games have an opening sequence that introduces the game. In this example, the title screen says “Hungry Dinosaur.”

To add a title scene, click on the stage, and select the “backdrops” tab. Click the paint a new backdrop icon. Use the text tool to add a title for your game. Be creative!

Next, show the title scene when your game starts. Select the sprite you made talk. In this example, that’s the dinosaur sprite. Drag out a “switch backdrop” block, and place it above the “say” blocks. Select the name of the backdrop you just created.

Now the block stack says: “when flag clicked” “switch to backdrop1” “say Roar! - I’m so hungry!”

“say ‘Help me get to the cheese puffs!’” Click the flag to test it. Uh-oh! The backdrop never switches back to the maze. That’s not right!

Drag out a “switch backdrop” block, and place it after the first “switch backdrop” block. Change the value to the name of your maze. Click the flag to test. That didn’t work either - now you don’t see the first backdrop at all! That’s because Scratch switches between them really quickly. To slow it down, add a “wait” block between the two “switch backdrop” blocks. Test it again.

Great! It works. Now, it’s your turn: Switch the sprite’s costumes. Use “say” blocks to tell a story.

Add an opening scene to the game with a new backdrop.

Make the characters your own, and have them tell a story. The story could be funny, sweet, sad, or goofy. It’s up to you!