arrow_back Deus Ex Machina

In this add-on, you’ll add a new sprite that fixes the conflict and resolves the premise in your story. In this example, an alien comes to the pool party and makes friends with the other alien who feels different, so the alien doesn’t feel left out anymore. You could also make the sun come out and warm up the chilly creature, or make a bug come in and scare away the dragon. As always, use your creativity! Add any sprite you want, then figure out how it fixes the conflict of your story.

Remember, you’re telling a story. So if the new character does or says something in the story, the other characters should respond! In this example, a new alien sprite appears.

To build this example, first, add the new sprite, called Giga2.

Since Giga2 is a “deus ex machina” sprite, it shouldn’t appear until later in the story.

Drag out a “when flag clicked” block, and place a “hide” block below that. When you click the green flag, the Giga2 sprite will be invisible.

Next, use the “broadcast” and “receive” blocks to make Giga2 appear suddenly. In the example, the Giga2 sprite should appear after the first Giga sprite thinks “I’m so alone.”

Click on the Giga sprite. Place a “broadcast” after the “think” block. The “broadcast” block sends a message to all other sprites in the Scratch project. Those sprites can react when they receive the message. In this example, Giga2 should appear!

Click on the Giga2 sprite. From the Events menu, drag out a “when I receive message1” block. When Giga2 receives “message1” from the Giga sprite, then Giga2 should say something or do an action! First, drag out a “show” block so that Giga2 will appear.

Then add some code to make Giga2 do something surprising, funny or exciting when the sprite appears!

Make your “deus ex machina” fit your story.

Just code a character to appear and resolve the conflict in the story!

Now it’s your turn: 1. Add a new character to the story.

2. Use broadcast, and hide and show blocks to make the new character appear suddenly.

3. Make the new character resolve the conflict in your story.