How to Create and Customize Scratch Sprites: A Beginner’s Guide

Scratch, a visual programming language developed by the MIT Media Lab, is an excellent platform for beginners to learn coding in a fun and interactive way. One of the key features in Scratch is the use of sprites, which are the characters or objects that users can program to move, react, and interact with each other. In this article, we will explore how to create and customize Scratch sprites, including example source code and data.

1. Creating a Sprite.

1. Open the Scratch online editor (https://scratch.mit.edu/) and start a new project.
2. Click on the “Choose a Sprite” from Library button to select a sprite from the extensive Scratch library, or use the “Paint” editor to create your own custom sprite.

2. Move the Sprite by Arrow Key.

1. Now, let’s delve into some basic Scratch code to make your sprite move and respond to user input.
2. Consider the following example code that makes a sprite move when the right arrow key is pressed:

   when green flag clicked
   forever
     if key right arrow pressed
       change x by 5
   end

3. Select the sprite and click the Code tab on Scratch editor window left.
4. Then drag and snap the below code block on the script area.
   
5. “when green flag clicked” initiates the code when the green flag in the Scratch project is clicked.
6. “forever” creates a loop that continues to run as long as the green flag is clicked.
7. “if key right arrow pressed” checks whether the right arrow key is pressed.
8. “change x by 10” moves the sprite 10 steps to the right each time the right arrow key is pressed.
9. You can change the above code blocks to below to make the sprite move to four directions when you press left, right, up, and down arrow.
   

3. Customizing Sprite Data.

1. Sprites can also have custom data, such as variables that store information about the sprite’s state.
2. Here’s an example of how you can use a variable to keep track of the sprite’s score:

   when green flag clicked
   set score to 0
   
   when green flag clicked
   forever
     if key space pressed
       change score by 1
       say score for 2 seconds
   end
   

3. “set score to 0” initializes the score variable when the green flag is clicked.
4. “if key space pressed” checks whether the space key is pressed.
5. “change score by 1” increments the score variable by 1 each time the space key is pressed.
6. “say score for 2 seconds” displays the current score for 2 seconds.
7. To implement this, you need to first make a variable with the name score, and use it to store the score number.

3.1 Make a Custom Variable Named ‘score’.

1. Select the sprite and click the Code tab on the left.
2. Click the Variables category, then click the Make a Variable button.
3. Input the name score in the popup New Variable window and check the radio button For this sprite only.
4. When you click the OK button, it will add and check the variable score.
5. It will also show the variable score on the stage area, you can change the score variable display position by drag it use your mouse.
   

3.2 Code Blocks to Control the score Variable Value.

1. Now add the below code blocks to the sprite script area.
2. The below code blocks will initialize the score number to 0 when the project start to run.
   
3. The below code blocks will change and say the current score number when you press the space key.
   
4. Please note, if you do not use the say for 2 seconds block in the above code, you need to use the wait for 1 seconds block to replace it.
5. If you do not use either of the above two blocks to make a delay, the score will change very quickly and show an incomprehensive big number like 19719.
6. You can also add the next costume block ( in the Looks code category ) in the if block, and adjust the say … for … seconds block time to a smaller number such as 0.1.
7. In this way, you can make the cat to show the run animation when you press the white space key.

4. Conclusion.

1. Creating and customizing Scratch sprites is a fantastic way for beginners to explore programming concepts in a playful environment.
2. By experimenting with code and data, users can gain valuable coding skills while having fun with their interactive sprites.
3. Feel free to explore more Scratch features and expand on the provided examples to create even more engaging projects!

5. Example Demo.

1. Below is this example demo.