🎮 Phase 3 · Game Development
🔵 Intermediate
MODULE 12
Balloon Pop Game
Your progress in Phase 3100%
🎯 What you'll learn: Clones — one of the most powerful features in Scratch! A clone is a copy of a sprite that runs its own independent code. We'll use clones to fill the screen with balloons the player must click to pop!
Section 1
Clones — One Sprite, Many Copies
Without clones, if you want 10 balloons you'd need 10 separate sprites. With clones, you make one balloon sprite and tell it to make copies of itself! Each clone can move and behave independently.
ONE ORIGINAL SPAWNS MANY INDEPENDENT CLONES
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ORIGINAL
Hidden at start
→
create clone x10
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Each clone is
independent
independent
Each can be at
different positions
different positions
Click one →
only that one pops
only that one pops
The three essential clone blocks
SCRATCH BLOCKS
create clone of [myself] ↑ Creates a new clone of THIS sprite. Run in a loop to make many! when I start as a clone ↑ This event fires for EACH clone when it's created. Code here runs in each clone! delete this clone ↑ Removes THIS specific clone from the stage. Use when clicked or when time is up.
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Original vs Clone — two different scripts!
The ORIGINAL sprite gets hidden and runs the "when 🚩 clicked" loop (spawning clones). The CLONES run the "when I start as a clone" script — they appear, move around, and wait to be clicked. Two separate behaviours, one sprite!
Section 2
Build: Balloon Pop Game! 🎈
1
Design the balloon sprite
Draw or use a round circle sprite as your balloon. Make it 60px size. Give it bright, fun colours in the Costumes tab — make multiple coloured costumes (red, blue, green, yellow balloon)!
2
Create variables
Create:
score, timer, and balloons popped. You'll track how many balloons are popped and show a timer counting down from 30!3
Original sprite — spawn loop
When 🚩 clicked: hide → set score to 0 → set timer to 30 → forever: create clone of myself → wait 0.8 seconds. The original stays hidden and keeps making clones!
4
Clone script — appear and float
When I start as a clone: show → switch costume to random → go to random x, y:-180 → forever: change y by 2 → if y > 180 then delete this clone (balloon floated off screen!).
5
Pop on click
Add to the clone: when this sprite clicked → change score by 1 → play sound "pop" → delete this clone. Only the clicked clone is deleted — the others keep floating!
6
Add the timer
On a separate sprite (or Stage): when 🚩 clicked → repeat 30: wait 1 sec, change timer by -1 → when timer = 0: stop all → say "Time's up! Score: (score)".
Balloon Sprite — Complete Clone Code
SCRATCH BLOCKS
-- SCRIPT 1: Original sprite spawner -- when 🚩 clicked hide set [score] to (0) forever create clone of [myself] wait (0.8) seconds -- SCRIPT 2: What each clone does -- when I start as a clone switch costume to (pick random 1 to 4) ← random colour! go to x: (pick random -200 to 200) y: (-180) set size to (pick random 50 to 100) % ← random size! show forever change y by (pick random 2 to 5) ← float up at random speed if <(y position) > 180> then delete this clone ← escaped! gone. -- SCRIPT 3: Pop when clicked -- when this sprite clicked change [score] by (1) play sound [pop] delete this clone
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Too many clones = slow game!
Scratch has a limit of 300 clones. If you spawn clones too fast without deleting them, the project slows down. Make sure clones are deleted when they float off screen OR when clicked. Wait at least 0.5 seconds between spawns!
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Phase 3 Complete!
You're now a real Scratch game developer! You can build games with scores, collision detection, colour sensing, player input, and clone-based spawning. That's serious coding skill!
✅ Variables & Score
✅ Colour Detection
✅ Ask & Answer
✅ Clone Spawning
🏆 Next: Phase 4 — Advanced Projects — build complex games, plan your own game, and publish your portfolio!
🧩 Knowledge Check — Lesson 12
5 questions on clones and Balloon Pop!
1. What does "create clone of [myself]" do?
2. Which event block triggers code for EACH clone when it's created?
3. When you click on one balloon (clone), what happens to the other balloons?
4. Why should the ORIGINAL balloon sprite be hidden at the start?
5. What happens if you spawn clones too fast without deleting them?
Phase 3 Final Challenge
Clone mastery · Intermediate Level
Challenge: Falling Stars Collector! ⭐
Build a game where stars fall from the sky and you must click them before they hit the ground!
Requirements:
1. Stars spawn at random positions at the TOP of the screen and fall down (change y by -3)
2. Clicking a star before it reaches y:-170 → +1 score + play star sound
3. If a star reaches the bottom → -1 life (start with 5 lives)
4. Each 10 points → increase fall speed by 0.5
5. Bonus: Add different coloured stars worth different points (gold=3, silver=2, white=1)
Build a game where stars fall from the sky and you must click them before they hit the ground!
Requirements:
1. Stars spawn at random positions at the TOP of the screen and fall down (change y by -3)
2. Clicking a star before it reaches y:-170 → +1 score + play star sound
3. If a star reaches the bottom → -1 life (start with 5 lives)
4. Each 10 points → increase fall speed by 0.5
5. Bonus: Add different coloured stars worth different points (gold=3, silver=2, white=1)
💡 Show hints if you're stuck
- Clone spawner: forever → create clone → wait 0.6 secs
- Clone script: go to random x, y:180 → show → forever → change y by -(speed) → if y < -170 → change lives by -1 → delete clone
- Click: when this sprite clicked → change score by 1 → delete clone
- Speed up: if (score mod 10 = 0) then change speed by 0.5
Finished this lesson?
Mark it complete to track your progress.
Module 12 of 16Phase 3 Complete!