I'm pretty sure most people born after 2005 know or have used Scratch at some point in their lives. It's really common at coding camps and schools. Scratch is a simple drag and drop block programming language created by the MIT to help teach kids the basics of coding without overwhelming them with things like syntax and errors. It launched in May 2007 and has slowly gained popularity over the years by kids of all ages. A lot of people move on from Scratch and forget about it. They say, "Scratch is for babies I know Python now so I'm basically the best programmer in the world." Well I beg to differ.
Alright so first we're going to look at the pros of using Scratch over other high-level languages such as Javascript or Python or Lua.
Ok you might think that this is a bit against my point but hear me out. Other languages don't have the visual feedback that Scratch does when it comes to constructing a script. Simplicity is often listed as one of Scratches weaknesses, but I argue it's really one of it's best strengths. The fact that literally anyone can just make and account or download the editor and immediately create a game is really great. The limited block selection can also spark creativity and build problem solving skills as you have to find new and innovative ways to acheive your vision.
Scratch is an open sourced project and always has been. There are several mods of scratch that do things from add new blocks to compiling the game to make it run faster. The ways that technical people can modify scratch make it not just a coding tool for kids, but also an entire system for representing coding in general. Also, open source things are just better. If the Scratch Team ever decides to stop working on it, takes down the website, and vanishes from the face of the earth, we'll still have a fork of it that somebody will most likely get working and put back up onto the internet again. Open source software that is genuinely wanted by the community is essentially immortal.
If you explore the Scratch website for long enough, you'll likely stumble upon the technical community. They're a relatively small group of people who dedicate their time to pushing Scratch to it's limits. They make absolutely crazy projects that you would never think are even possible. that said, there are also games that aren't super technical but still feel like real games with real gameplay. I think it's just better to show you so I'm going to put some embeds here with some of my favorite technical/real game feeling projects.
You may have noticed that one project looks slightly different than the other, that's because instead of the default Scratch engine for the 3D project I'm using the Turbowarp engine which compiles the Scratch code and makes it run much faster.
This is where I'm going to be discussing some of the downsides to using Scratch. No language is perfect.
If you're using vanilla Scratch, and you're making semi-technical projects, you'll probably notice the issue. Most games run fine on Scratch, but the larger and more complex ones don't run fine at all. All of the technical projects I mentioned earlier? They BARELY run on Scratch like I'm talking 0.5 fps. If you want a complex game to have any semblace of playability, you need to use a compiler like Turbowarp or Forkphorus. There are extreme optimizers that can get a pretty crazy game to run on normal Scratch (such as the creator of Waddle World), but for the most part the tech just isn't there yet if it's even possible.
There are a couple things that I've wished I had when using Scratch. The first is 2D lists. In Scratch, you can make 1D lists and that is it. It makes using lists to store images or level data just that much more annoying because you need to write custom code to convert 2D coordinates to a 1D index. Another thing that Scratch is missing for apparently no reason is a squared or power of ___ function. It does have a square root, but no easy way to square or apply an exponent to a number. I really don't see why this isn't included. I also feel a lack of features inside the Pen extension (built in) because it lets you draw lines which is all fine, but a webGL polygon or triangle fill would be very much appreciated by both me and the technical community.
Did you notice how I have three pros listed but only two cons listed?? Well, that's because the cons outweigh the pros and Scratch is the best programming language!! Additionally, Scratch is still receiving updates so some of my irks may be solved with new features or fixes. Plus, if Scratch doesn't have enough features for you, just use a mod. There are so many that add all kinds of new blocks. I hope you seriously consider using Scratch. It doesn't need to be as a platform, Scratch has a downloadable app that lets you code and run projects offline in your own computer. I must admit, Scratch's community isn't really that great, but you should still give it a try and maybe you can make it better! USE SCRATCH!!!!!
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