My Favorite Extensions: Sprite Scaling

It has only been the last year or so that MakeCode Arcade has allowed scaling of sprites from within projects, so we don’t have many skillmaps or tutorials that rely on it as a game mechanic — but it can be a fun and simple way to add visual interest and obvious consequences to your game.

Arcade now has two scaling blocks in its stock toolbox:

• set to [ ] %
• change by [ ] %

These blocks allow you to scale a sprite uniformly by a percentage, anchored in one of nine locations.

That’s great in a lot of situations, but it can be limiting. That’s why I like the sprite-scaling extension.

To add sprite-scaling to your project, click “Extensions” in the toolbox, and search for “scaling”. You should be left with this tile.

Add that to your project, and you’ll get a new category called “Scaling”.

This is where the possibilities really open up!

Now, you can choose to scale by a percent OR by a certain number of pixels. Either of those options will allow you to set or change and each lets you choose to scale horizontally, vertically, or uniformly.

With this extension, you can now make games where characters can grow and shrink, stretch and flatten, or even disappear out of sight altogether!

Create a project with the sprite-scaling extension and post the link here. I’d love to see what you’ve made.