Lesson Plans

Reach New Heights with Power-Ups and Collectibles: Working with Public Variables in Unreal Engine

Computer Science and Engineering
Unreal Engine
Hour of Code
Lesson 3 | In games, power-ups allow the player to perform actions they might not otherwise be able to perform. In this lesson, students will learn how to work with variables to add power-ups, allowing the player to reach new heights.

Overview

In games, power-ups allow the player to perform actions they might not otherwise be able to perform. For example, you can add a speed boost to help a player reach a goal faster, or you can add a boost that makes your player invincible for a period of time. Oftentimes, power-ups are a function of changing a variable to provide this short term effect.

In this lesson, you will be adding a power-up that will allow the player to reach platforms that are much higher than they can currently reach. You will explore Blueprints, the visual scripting system in Unreal Engine, and make changes to the variables responsible for the desired outcome. Then you will add coin pickups to entice the player to jump to these out-of-the-way places.

Ready, Set, Jump!
 

Students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate an understanding of the structure of Blueprints in Unreal Engine.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of variables.
  • Apply the understanding of modifying variables in the context of a game.
  • Create and modify a game level in a true game engine (Unreal Engine) that incorporates changing variables.
  • Work with variables to determine the correct value required to achieve a desired result.
 

Subject

Computer Science & Engineering
 

Grade level

Grades 8-12 (Ages 13+)


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  • Course Length:1 hour 0 minutes
  • Author: Steve Isaacs, Brian Dickman, and Ian Southwell
  • Release date:12-2020