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Video games are all about change! How fast is this character moving? How does the score change if the player collects a coin? Where on the screen should we draw a castle?
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We can break down a game into parts, and figure out which parts change and which ones stay the same. For example:
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Computers use coordinates to position a character on the screen. These coordinates specify how far from the left (x-coordinate) and the bottom (y-coordinate) a character should be. Negative values can be used to "hide" a character, by positioning them somewhere off the screen.
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When a character moves, those coordinates change by some amount. When the score goes up or down, it also changes by some amount.
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From the computer’s point of view, the whole game is just a bunch of numbers that are changing according to some equations. We might not be able to see those equations, but we can definitely see the effect they have when a character jumps on a mushroom, flies on a dragon, or mines for rocks!
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Modern video games are incredibly complex, costing millions of dollars and several years to make, and relying on hundreds of programmers and digital artists to build them. But building even a simple game can give us a good idea of how the complex ones work!
These materials were developed partly through support of the National Science Foundation,
(awards 1042210, 1535276, 1648684, and 1738598). 
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