If the Key Fits

Meet Dean! He’s teamed up with instructor Zack as part of Game-U’s New Jersey Accelerate program. Dean loves to prove his coding (and modeling, and animating) skills by earning achievement badges. He recently took on the Lockpicker badge and gave it his own special twist! See how he did it.

The Lockpicker badge, completed in 3D game editor Project Spark, calls for the student to create and code three separate keys that each open a specific object, like a door, a chest, or a secret treasure room. Rather than simply code three keys to open three doors, Dean chose a more creative route, combining key cards, access terminals, and doors to complete the requirements. Ever opened a gift that’s in a box, that’s in another box, that’s in yet another box? It’s a little like that! Dean worked with Project Spark’s Kode tiles to make his ideas happen.

To earn Lockpicker, Dean figured out the logic behind two important mechanics – how to collect a key and how to open a portal with a key. He started with the key mechanic. Project Spark separates Kode rules into When and Do sides, so that when an event takes place, the game knows what to do in response. Dean decided that when the player interacts with the key object, the key should play a visual effect (“Pickup Coin”) and then be added to the player’s inventory. When the key is in the player’s inventory, the game also displays a small icon of the key in the top right corner of the screen. Dean created a few of these keys for the player to discover and use in a particular order.

But what about the objects those keys open? To design them, Dean added an access terminal prop, which looks like a high-tech keyhole, outside an astro-base in his world. The astro-base only opens if it detects that the access terminal has power, and the access terminal only has power if it detects Dean’s first key in his player’s inventory. The Kode uses the “interacted,” event in the When side of the rule and provides several instructions – play a visual effect, turn on the access terminal’s power, and destroy the key card – in the Do side. Once Dean’s player enters the astro-base, he finds yet another key, which unlocks the game’s final door and the Lockpicker achievement!

Cool work here, Dean! You’ve got a key card that opens a key, that opens a door, that reveals another key, that opens one last door. Your logic and creativity in this project definitely earned you the Lockpicker badge as well as the Overachiever badge (for going above and beyond the bare requirements of Lockpicker). Keep earning badges! We’re looking forward to hearing about which achievement you unlock next.