Course Template
AI Game Lab BuildFromZero: Classic Games from Scratch
Building Projects for Classic Games with frameCraft: Develop well-known game ideas like Snake, Pac-Man, Bomberman light, Space Invaders, and Tower Defense step by step from a small starting point.
Structured Game Development with AI Support
This template uses AI coding as didactically embedded support within CodeRoom: The AI works contextually on the current project status, explains errors, sets targeted changes, and makes code development immediately verifiable. Teachers maintain transparency over prompts, changes, and versions. In ProtoTypeFirst format, all components start with a runnable starting point that is developed step by step into a playable prototype. This creates a clearly structured framework for learners who program with AI support and want to expand existing code in targeted ways.
Didactic Goal
The template brings together classic game ideas as **step-by-step development projects** and combines game rules, scene setup, control, and feedback in manageable extensions. The focus is on building competencies in **modeling, structuring, and implementation**: game figures, states, data lists, raster positions, collisions, and UI displays are systematically added from a starting basis. The components show how playable prototypes arise from small scenes through planned data, clear functions, and recurring rules. This makes the template scientifically assignable to the field of **game development with prototyping and object-oriented thinking**.
Competency focal points
The template bundles the focus on methodical and technical aspects of game development with frameCraft and KI-supported code extension.
- Scene setup: Start bases with game field, figures, UI elements, touch buttons, and prepared inputs are systematically expanded.
- Control and inputs: Keyboard and touch actions are prepared, queried, and used for movement, placement, or gameplay actions.
- Game mechanics: Movement, direction change, shots, bombs, enemy movement, collectibles, and interactions are implemented step by step.
- Data structures: Scene values, lists, raster positions, enemy data, building places, and object states structure the game logic.
- Collisions and rules: Wall contacts, enemy contacts, hits, self-contact, damage, and range are built up as verifiable game rules.
- Game states and feedback: Points, Lives, Waves, Resources, Game Over, Victory Conditions, Restart, and HUD Displays make the game progression understandable.
- Prototyping with AI Coding: Small, targeted changes are tested, evaluated, and used as a basis for further expansion steps.
Structure of Building Blocks
The building blocks draw on different classic game elements and lead from a playable starting base to clearly defined extensions of scene, data, inputs, rules, and game states.
Space Invaders: Defense against the Formation
The building block uses a starting basis with spaceship, formation marking, and input to gradually build up movement, shots, enemies, hits, points, lives, waves, and restart as a defense game.
Tower Defense Light: Defense along the Path
The building block develops a map with path, start, goal, construction sites, and enemy placeholders into a tower defense prototype with stored data, input triggers, towers, attacks, coins, waves, defeat, and restart.
Bomberman light: Grid Bomb
The building block leads from field placeholders, player, marker, UI, and pre-prepared control to grid logic, movement, walls, bomb, explosion, points, damage, enemies, victory, and restart.
Pac-Man: Maze Hunt
This component extends a visible maze area with placeholder player and input check to tilemap, movement, wall collision, points, score, enemies, lives, and power point.
Snake: Growing in the Grid
This component builds a grid logic with movement, food, growth, collisions, score, game over, and restart from field, snake head, HUD, and control buttons.
Open AI Game Sandbox
This component provides a neutral frameCraft sandbox where scene, figure, variables, text feedback, and freely selectable prototype ideas can be extended without a fixed end game.
Contents at a glance
This template bundles classic game projects that reveal common principles of game development from different perspectives.
| Component | Content focus | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Space Invaders: Defense against the Formation | Movement, Shots, Enemy Formation, Hits, Points, Lives, Waves and Restart | 90 min, 23 Tasks |
| Tower Defense Light: Defense Along the Path | Path, Construction Sites, Saved Scene Data, Towers, Range, Attack, Coins, Waves and Restart | 90 min, 25 Tasks |
| Bomberman light: Grid Bomb | Grid, Movement, Walls, Bomb, Explosion, Points, Damage, Enemies, Victory and Restart | 90 min, 21 Tasks |
| Pac-Man: Point Hunt in the Labyrinth | Tilemap, Movement, Wall Collision, Collected Points, Score, Enemies, Lives and Power-Point | 90 min, 27 Tasks |
| Snake: Growth in the Grid | Grid Logic, Movement, Food, Growth, Collisions, Score, Game Over and Restart | 75 min, 25 Tasks |
| Open AI Games Sandbox | Neutral Sandbox for Scene, Figure, Variables, Text Feedback and freely selectable Prototype Ideas | 90 min, 18 Tasks |
The modules offer clear development stages, transparent learning objectives and good connectivity to lesson series on game development, modeling and implementation.
Use a demo access, test the template and adapt the projects to your study group and lesson plan.