1. Have a good play on your own before you introduce it to your class. Testing in KS2 and KS3 classes has shown that they pick it up really quickly - you may need a little longer!
2. Familiarise yourself with all the blocks in the game and how they interact with each other.
3. When you start a level, first look where the 'START' and 'GOAL' blocks are, and consider what you'll need to do to get the ball to reach the goal. Then press the 'TEST' button to see what happens before you start to add blocks.
4. Look at the blocks available to you (at the bottom left of the screen). Make sure you know what they are and what they do. You can touch any of the blocks on the screen to see a short description or check out the Launchball blocks list.
5. Once you think you know what route the ball will need to take, try adding blocks in order to tackle the obstacles one at a time and test in between to ensure that it’s working the way you expect.
6. Don’t forget, you can’t move or manipulate any of the blocks already on a placed on the screen - you can only influence the blocks that you have placed. Some blocks can be rotated or reversed (for example the mirrors, torches and conveyor belts).
7. You can ask for a hint at any time when playing a preset level. You'll also be offered a hint after you've been playing for two minutes - which you can refuse! You'll find that the hints become more cryptic as the levels get harder.
8. You can save your progress through the preset levels by entering your e-mail address within the game, at which point you'll be given a secret code that you can use to resume the game at a later date. You are prompted to save after completing your first level, or you can save your progress later in the game by selecting the option on the level complete screen. You'll also be prompted to save when creating your own levels.
9. The levels within the 'Tricky', 'Sneaky' and 'Crafty' sections are numbered and gradually increase in difficulty, so bear this in mind when selecting challenges for your students.
10. If you want to be able to access all the preset levels without having to play through them, you can use our special educators’ code: news814bevy.
news814bevy
