Galactic Speedway

Lesson description: Create your very own spaceship and race it on an alien planet. Practice skills like 3D modeling and coding as you publish a game on Roblox.

ISTE standards: Innovative Designer 4a, 4c, 4d, Creative Communicator 6b, 6d

Lesson objectives	Develop 3D modeling skills by moving parts to create a cohesive driftspeeder. Practice coding by changing a variable to make ships fly faster. Test, evaluate, and redesign to create a bug-free and visually appealing game.
Skills and concepts	3D Modeling - The practice and industry of creating 3D graphics. Variable - A placeholder for information when programming.
Prep	Make sure each student has a Roblox account and knows their login information Print out handouts
Materials	Windows or Mac Computer with Roblox Studio installed Handout: Galactic Speedway Self Evaluation Presentation: Build It Play It

Overview

Duration	Activity	Description
5 min	Introduction	Introduce the project and lesson structure.
5 min	Guided Tutorial: Take a Test Drive	Teach the basics of using Roblox Studio while building a simple obstacle course.
35 min	Guided Work: Design, Evaluate, and Redesign	Set a goal and build a driftspeeder using premade parts.
10 min	Independent Work: Polish and Publish	Add final touches, modify a script to change speed, and publish the game online.
10 min	Wrap-up	Reflect on project and recap concepts learned.

Lesson plan

Introduction

Grab attention by showing the video in Presentation: Build It Play It - Slide 2.
- Inform students that they're going to build a spaceship and use it to race with friends.

Guided tutorial - Take a test drive

Establish context by leading students through Get Off The Ground through Moving the Body.
- Before students test fly a spaceship, set a time limit (such as 2 minutes) to ensure students stay focused.
Lead students through Save and Publish.
- When publishing the game, save time by having students use placeholder titles and descriptions (My game, my description). Can always change later when finished.

Guided work - Design, evaluate, and redesign

Pass out and Introduce the Handout: Galactic Speedway Self Evaluation.
- At the end of building, will self evaluate themselves based on goals.
- Read out loud the different possible goals.
- Give students 1-2 minutes to silently identify a goal in building.
  - Optional: Have students pair-share or share as a class.
Lead students through Adding Wings to Test the Speeder.
- To ensure students finish, set time limits on each step (e.g. five minutes for wings).
- Save at least five minutes for grouping speeders and testing their work.

Independent work - Polish and publish

Lead students through Customize and Share.
Have students catch up on their projects. If finished, can always improve their driftspeeder or build another one.

Wrap up

Close computers and have students follow instructions on Self Evaluation Handout.
Recap what students have created and vocabulary: 3D Modeling and variable.
To showcase work, have students trade seats with a partner and fly their driftspeeder.

Appendix

Troubleshooting tips

General troubleshooting

Introduce students to "Ask 3 Before Me": a student needs to ask three peers before asking the instructor for help.
If a driftspeeder isn't flying, try the following:
Make sure it's included in the Garage. Note that the Garage is a specific folder in the Explorer part of the Studio workspace.
Check that the finished model includes at least one Body part. This part includes a script allowing the model to fly.

General building tips

Encourage students to check their work from multiple angles using the camera tools. It's possible that buildings may be floating or misaligned.
Remind students to experiment with different sizes and rotations for parts.
While students build, call out unique uses of parts (Ex: Oh, I didn't think about using a wing as a body! Huh, I didn't think you could use those parts to make a car!)

Classroom management

Facilitation tips

One way of protecting students online is setting up VIP servers. This feature allows you to create servers where only specific users can enter. For example, when students publish their game, they can allow for private servers where only members of the class can join. See Private Servers for more information.
While students playtest, set guidelines for good sportsmanship. For example:
- Respect and encourage others.
- If you lose, don't make excuses. If you win, don't rub it in.

Timing notes

To ensure students finish projects, ste and enforce expectations on how much time per section (body, wings, decorations), such as five minutes for each. Because students might get focused on one section, this helps them complete projects fully.

Customize the lesson

Expand the lesson

Pair Building Activity

- Group up two students. Have one publish a place and set up [Live Collaboration](/docs/roblox-projects-collaboration) .
- Have students take turns adding one piece at a time, or making one change at a time until they create a finished speeder.

Simplify the lesson

The Self-Evaluation checklist can be optional.
Have students add at most two wings and two decorations.

Miscellaneous resources

Check for understanding Students can go online to take a quiz or alternatively, you can quiz students.

Online: Students can take a quiz through this online game and earn virtual Roblox prizes.
Quiz: Use this handout to quiz students verbally.

Course description: Enter the space race of the millenia! No ship, no problem. Discover how your own racing spaceship using Roblox's free coding and design tools. In this course, students will explore the basics of 3D modeling and programming, then share their completed game to play with friends online. Created specifically for students new to game design, this curriculum is a great way for students to get started creating before moving onto more advanced projects and programming.

In this course, your student will:

Design a spaceship for a multiplayer racing game.
Test, evaluate, and redesign to create a fun, polished game.
Take home a complete game that can be played and shared online.