Build a Game Step by Step: teacher key

How Video Games Are Made, grade 7 edition, written for 7th grade. Game development means designing, prototyping, building, testing and refining a game. See what artists, programmers and testers do, what an engine is, and how beginners can start.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What does a game engine give a team?
   • The tools to build a video game (answer)
   • A rating from the ESRB
   • A place to sell games
2. What might an early prototype look like?
   • A floating capsule in an empty room (answer)
   • A finished 3D world
   • A box with a cartridge
3. How do kids put a game together in Scratch?
   • They type long lines of code
   • They drag and snap blocks together (answer)
   • They use a cartridge
4. Why do designers have people play a game while it is being made?
   • They use what they learn to change the game (answer)
   • They need to sell it right away
   • They want to check the rating
5. What does "smallest single-color element of a display" describe?
   • A pixel (answer)
   • A prototype
   • An engine

Words

• prototype: early version
• engine: building platform
• pixel: screen dot
• sprites: pixel pictures
• animators: movement makers