Game states
Game states are the modes a game can be in — menu, playing, paused, game over. Naming them and drawing the transitions prevents impossible situations.
Python for Kids · Class 7 · Module 7 of 9
Building Better Games
Anyone can make a game. Making one that stays fun is a design problem.
8 sessionsSessions 49–56
4 weeksTypical pace
Foundation to IntermediateLevel
Class 7Python & Coding
The big idea
This module treats a game as a system: states that control what the player can do, levels that raise difficulty on purpose, and scoring that rewards the behaviour the designer actually wants.
Why it matters
Game state is the friendliest possible introduction to how real applications track where a user is and what they are allowed to do next.
Unpacked
What you will actually learn
Three core ideas, each taught with worked examples and then practised until it feels obvious.
Levels
Levels change parameters rather than code: fewer lives, less time, more enemies. One well-designed loop can deliver ten different levels.
Scoring systems
Scoring systems shape behaviour. Reward speed and players rush; reward accuracy and they slow down. Scoring is a design decision, not a detail.
Did you know?
The text adventure Colossal Cave, written in 1976, ran entirely on this logic — rooms, states and conditions — and is still played today.
Common mix-up
“Harder means better.” Difficulty should rise just ahead of skill. Too far ahead and the player quits before your clever ending.
Session by session
Your 8-session journey
Sessions 49–56 of the 72-session year, at two one-hour sessions per week.
- 1
Warm-up and big picture
Where this module fits, what you will build, and a hands-on starter that gets everyone curious about game states.
- 2
Game states
Guided teaching on game states, worked through together with the teacher.
- 3
Game states — practice lab
Independent practice, small challenges and one deliberate mistake to diagnose.
- 4
Levels
Guided teaching on levels, building directly on the previous two sessions.
- 5
Levels — practice lab
Applied tasks that combine game states and levels in one piece of work.
- 6
Scoring systems
Scoring systems introduced and practised, completing the toolkit needed for the project.
- 7
Project build
Guided build session for the module project: Text adventure game.
- 8
Test, present and reflect
Finish, test against the checklist, present the work and explain the decisions behind it.
Project lab
Text adventure game
Every module ends with something the student built themselves and can demonstrate. This is the piece that goes into their portfolio and gets explained out loud at the end of session 56.
Try this at home
Add a hidden room to your text adventure that can only be reached by carrying a specific item, then watch a friend try to find it.
It is finished when
- It works from start to finish without breaking
- You can explain every part of it in your own words
- You tested it and improved at least one thing afterwards
- Someone else used or understood it without your help
By the end of this module
Students finishing Module 7 can:
- Explain and use game states without prompting
- Explain and use levels without prompting
- Explain and use scoring systems without prompting
- Build and finish text adventure game
- Test your own work and correct what you find
- Talk an adult through what you made and why
Word bank
The vocabulary introduced here, in plain language:
- game state
- The current mode or situation of a game.
- game loop
- The cycle that keeps a game running and updating.
- balancing
- Tuning rules so a game stays fair and fun.
Module challenge
Think you have got this?
0 XPLevel 1 · Curious Beginner
6 quick questions drawn from this module — vocabulary, the project you build, and a myth-or-fact round. Every wrong answer explains itself, so a mistake still teaches you something.
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