How to Make an Apple Catcher Game on Scratch? – 5 Easy Steps

Step 1: Make the catcher move

The first step towards creating the catching game on Scratch is to make the object move. For that, we will have to choose the right sprite which acts as a catcher, and the detailed steps on how to do this are outlined below:

• Delete the Cat sprite and choose a different sprite for this game as shown in the image below.

• Click on Choose a Sprite.

• Click on Bowl sprite, you can pick any character from Scratch’s library of sprites.

• After clicking on Bowl, you should see Bowl in the stage area. 

• Click on “Choose a Backdrop” and choose a backdrop from scratch’s library of backdrops.

• Click on Forest, you can pick any backdrop from scratch’s library of backdrops.

• After clicking on Forest, you should see a forest backdrop added to the stage area. 

• Drag Bowl to the center.

• Click on “Code” and start writing code for Bowl. You have to drag the coding block from the block palette and drop it in the code area. 
• Using the “change x by” block, you can move your bowl left and right & changing in positive x value will move the bowl right. 

• Add a condition to move the bowl right when you click on the right arrow key.
• From “control” blocks, drag & drop the “if-then” block. 

• From the sensing block, drag & drop “key [space] pressed?”, click on “space” & and select ‘right arrow” from the drop-down menu. 

• Drag & drop “change x by” to the “if-then” condition block.

• Drag and drop “when clicked” block and click on “green flag”.
• Pressing the right arrow key doesn’t do anything because the “if-then” block is checked only once. And we want it always being checked. So, let’s add a loop.

• Drag & drop “when clicked” block and “forever” loop, then click on “green flag”.
• Now, if you click on the “right-arrow key” block, the bowl is moving to the right side.

• Make the bowl go to the left, instead of changing X by 10, you can change X by -10. 

• Let’s make it do this if the left arrow key is clicked. 

• Let’s put this in the forever loop too and click on “green flag”. 
• Below you can see the Catcher (bowl) can move with the left & right arrow keys.

Step 2: Insert the apple sprite with the position

The main idea of the game is to make the apples fall from the top so that we can catch them in a bowl on the ground. In the previous step, we inserted the bowl. Now in this step, we will insert the apple sprite and make it fall from the top. 

• Let’s pick the sprite (Apple) that you want to catch in the game and place it on the top of the screen. 
• Click on Choose a Sprite; you can choose any sprite. 

• Click on Apple.

• Apple added.

• The apple should start at a random place at the top. 
• Drag & drop the “go-to random position” block.

• Drag & drop “set y to” block to set how high up a Sprite is. 
• In scratch, Y represents how a Sprite moves from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen. 
• So, if Y is set to zero the apple goes up to the middle.
• If Y is set at 20, it goes up a little higher and if it is set at 180, it goes all the way to the top.

• Now, to make the Apple go to a random place set the set Y to 180.

• Drag & drop the “when clicked” block as shown below.

Step 3: Make the apples fall down on the ground

• Let’s make our apple fall down. If we change, Y by 10 the apple goes upwards. 
• To make it go down, you can put in a negative number.

• Put “change Y by” inside a forever loop, it’ll keep falling until you click on it.
• So right now, you have an Apple that can fall one time, what you need to do now is if the Apple is at the bottom then move it upwards.

• Drag & drop the “if-then” block

• Set up a condition that checks if the apple is at the bottom. And at the bottom, Y is less than -170.
• Drag & drop the “less than” operator block to the if-then block.
• Drag & drop the “Y position” block to the “less than” block.

• Let’s put the above code inside our forever loop. 
• Drag & drop the “when clicked” block as shown below. 

Step 4: Write code to make the apple touch the bowl

• Let’s write a condition to check when the Apple touches the bowl.
• Drag & drop the “if-then” block and select bowl.

• Let’s write a condition that if the Apple touches the bowl; then the apple should stop falling and go back to the top somewhere so it can fall again.
• Drag & drop “go to random position” and “set y to” blocks.

• Put the above code inside a forever loop.

• To enhance the game, let’s add a sound when the player catches the apple.
• Click on “Sounds”

• Click on “Choose a Sound”

• Type in search “Collect” and click on it.

• Click on “Code”.

• Drag & drop the “start sound collect” coding block as shown below.

• Click on “green flag”.

Step 5: End the game and add counting points

• Let’s add a score so that you get points for every catch.
• Add a variable. A variable is something that can be changed. In computer programming, variables are used to store information that might change and can be used later in the program.
• Click on the “Variables” block and click on “Make a Variable”

• Name your variable, here it is named “score”.

• To increase the score add the “change score by” coding block. And put this block every time you catch the apple. 

• Click on “green flag”.
• Reset the score to zero when the game starts.
• Drag & drop “set score to” block as shown below. 

• Click on “green flag”.