LevelKit Platform
A Year 9 platform game framework that builds on the LevelKit structure students already know from Year 8.
Overview
LevelKit Platform is the Year 9 follow-on to LevelKit-Text. The goal is to help students move from text adventures into platform games in the style of Super Mario Bros without losing the familiar project organisation they used the year before. The folder structure is intentionally similar, but not identical, so students get continuity alongside a gentle increase in complexity.
In Year 8, students use LevelKit-Text to learn how a game project can be split into manageable pieces. They work with a predictable folder structure, edit content files, and start to understand how assets, game logic, and configuration fit together. LevelKit Platform keeps that same broad mental model in place for Year 9.
The difference is the genre. Instead of branching text and room navigation, students are now building side-scrolling platform games with levels, sprites, collision, movement, and hazards. The project is designed around the idea that students should recognise where things live in the codebase, even though the game systems themselves are more dynamic.
That is why the structure is similar but different. Students still work in a framework that separates reusable engine code from the content they are expected to edit, but the folders now reflect the needs of a platformer: level data, player behaviour, enemy logic, tiles, and sprite assets. It should make the jump into Year 9 feel more achievable because the organisational pattern is not completely new.
The broader teaching goal is transfer. Students are not just learning to make one type of game; they are learning that a well-organised project can be adapted to different genres. LevelKit Platform uses a familiar scaffold to introduce harder programming ideas without forcing students to relearn how the whole project is laid out.
FEATURES.
Year 9 Progression
Designed specifically as a follow-on from the Year 8 LevelKit experience, so students can build on an existing mental model instead of starting from scratch.
Familiar Folder Structure
Keeps the broad project layout students have already used, with small structural changes that reflect the needs of a platform game.
Platformer Focus
Students work on movement, gravity, jumping, collision, hazards, sprites, and level progression rather than text navigation and branching choices.
Editable Game Content
The framework is intended to separate reusable systems from student-editable content so learners can focus on building and customising their own games.
Super Mario Style Inspiration
The project direction is based on classic platform game ideas, giving students a clear and recognisable genre target.
Lower On-Ramp
Because the organisation is partially familiar, students can spend more effort understanding new gameplay systems and less effort decoding the project layout.
Tech Stack
Primary language for gameplay logic, animation, and student-facing scripting
Rendering surface for sprites, movement, collision feedback, and level presentation
Used for the surrounding shell, layout, and any supporting interface elements
Architecture
The intended architecture mirrors the teaching philosophy from LevelKit-Text: reusable engine-style code is separated from the files students are expected to modify. That makes it easier to preserve a stable framework while still letting students create their own levels and behaviours.
Compared with the Year 8 project, the folder structure shifts from text adventure concepts like rooms and battles toward platformer concepts like maps, tiles, entities, and physics-driven interactions. The pattern is familiar enough to reduce cognitive load, but different enough to show students that structure should respond to the kind of software being built.
Challenges
- •Preserving enough similarity to the Year 8 project that students feel oriented immediately
- •Introducing platformer concepts like gravity, collision, and sprite-state changes without overwhelming learners
- •Choosing folder and file boundaries that are simple for students but still reflect how a real game project is organised
- •Making the framework flexible enough for student creativity while keeping the starter code teachable in a classroom setting
Outcomes
- •Creates a clear Year 8 to Year 9 progression within the LevelKit series
- •Supports transfer of prior learning by reusing a familiar organisational model
- •Introduces students to platform game programming through a recognisable genre
- •Reduces setup friction by making the project structure easier for returning students to pick up