Microsoft ® Small Basic

1. Microsoft® Small Basic Playing with Shapes Estimated time to complete this lesson: 1 hour

2. Playing with Shapes In this lesson, you will learn how to: Create games with the help of shapes. Create game elements by using various properties and operations of the Shapes.

3. Fun with Shapes Let’s start with a very simple game that you can create by using the Shapes object in Small Basic. So far, you’ve learned about drawing various shapes with the help of the Shapes object in the graphics window. Now it’s time to have some fun with shapes… • Do you know you can play with shapes and create games? As you know, you can use various operations of the Shapes object to draw, color, rotate, and animate shapes in the graphics window. Now you will learn how you can use different shapes to make games.

4. Balancing the Ball – The Game In this simple game, you balance the ball on a seesaw in the graphics window. The game tests a person’s responsiveness. The timer displays how much time the user keeps the ball balanced on the seesaw. Notice how you can create different shapes with the Shapes object to add colorful elements to the game.

5. Balancing the Ball – How to Play So how do you play this game? • Steps to play the game: • First, you drop the ball on the seesaw by pressing ENTER on the keyboard. • After you drop the ball, you press the LEFT ARROW key and the RIGHT ARROW key on the keyboardto balance the ball on the seesaw without dropping the ball.

6. Balancing the Ball – The Code Now let’s understand the code for the game in detail… You create a user interface for the game by using the GraphicsWindow object. You add a shape and move it by using different operations and properties of the Shapes. You add event handlers and use different conditions for different actions.

7. Hit the Right Shape – The Game • Now let’s move on to a more complex game. In this game, you score points by using the mouse to select the correct shape from the shapes that appear in the graphics window. Again, notice how we are using different types of colorful shapes by using the Shapes object. The objective of the game is to score points by clicking the correct shape.

8. Hit the Right Shape – How to Play So how do you play this game? • Steps to play the game: • Various shapes move across the screen. • A shape name appears briefly, and the user must click the shape that matches the shape name. • The user scores points for clicking the correct shape.

9. Hit the Right Shape – The Code Now let’s understand the code for the game in detail… You create a user interface for the game by using the GraphicsWindow object. You add the text box and set the text in the text box by using different operations of the Controls object. You add and move different types of shapes by using the Shapes object, and you add a timer by using the Clock. In addition, you set different conditions to carry out different actions.

10. Let’s Summarize… Congratulations! Now you know how to: • Create games by using shapes. • Create game elements by using various properties and operations of the Shapes object.

11. Show What You Know Write a program to display a graphics window, and then perform the following steps: • Create a slightly opaque flower in the graphics window by using various shapes. • Create a separate panel that contains separate, corresponding shapes that you have used to create the flower. • Drag each shape from the panel to recreate the flower.