Creating a story in Scratch is a lot like writing your own little play! You can bring characters to life, design scenes, and even make your characters speak in Scratch by coding dialogues. Here are simple steps to help you create your own animated story.
Step 1: Plan Your Story
Think about the basic elements of your story:
- Characters: Who will be in your story? You might need a hero, a friend, or even a funny animal!
- Scenes: Where will your story take place? A forest, a spaceship, or a school? Each scene can look like a different “backdrop” in Scratch.
- Dialogue: What will your characters say? Think of a few lines for each character.
Planning these elements will help you when you start adding them in Scratch.
Step 2: Choose Your Characters
In Scratch, characters are called sprites. You can:
- Pick from Scratch’s library: Go to the “Choose a Sprite” button to browse different characters.
- Draw Your Own: If you want something unique, try drawing your own character in the “Costume” tab.
- Add Variety: Choose more than one character if your story needs friends, animals, or even funny objects that talk!
Step 3: Set Up the Scenes
Scenes are made with backdrops in Scratch. To set up scenes:
- Click on the Choose a Backdrop button to pick a scene from Scratch’s collection.
- You can change backdrops throughout your story to show different locations.
- You can also draw your own scenes to make them even more unique!
Tip: If your story has multiple scenes, you can add code to switch backdrops at the right times.
Step 4: Add Dialogues
Here’s where the magic happens! You can make your characters speak to each other by using the say block. Follow these steps:
- Select your sprite (character) and go to the Code tab.
Drag the purple say block and type in what you want the character to say. For example, Hello! I’m Pico!
- Use a timer in the say block, so the words disappear after a few seconds.
- Repeat this for every line of dialogue between characters.
- Always remember this when creating conversations in Scratch. When a character is speaking, we should make the other character wait till this character has finished the dialogue. Else, the dialogues will overlap.
Example:
Step 5: Animate the Story
Make your characters move and act! You can add:
- Movement: Use the move and glide blocks to make your characters walk or jump.
- Actions: Change costumes to make it look like they’re doing different actions (like waving or dancing).
- Sound: Add music or sound effects by using the Sound blocks. Scratch has many sound options, or you can record your own!
Step 6: Switch Between Scenes
If your story has multiple scenes, you’ll want to change backdrops to show different parts of the story. Use the switch backdrop to… block to set the right background for each part of your story. You can also add code to make the story pause between scenes.
Example:
- Start with the Blue Sky2 backdrop.
- When the characters finish talking, switch to a School backdrop for the next part of the story.
Step 7: Test Your Story
Click the green flag to play your story from the beginning! Watch to see if the scenes, dialogues, and animations play in the right order. If something doesn’t look right, go back to your code and make changes.
Tips to Make Your Story Extra Fun
- Use different voices for each character by changing the way their dialogues are written.
- Add some surprises or funny moments to keep your audience interested!
- Try using effects like change color or spin to make parts of your story look magical.
With Scratch, you’re the storyteller, director, and animator! Try it out and watch your story come to life, one scene at a time.