Learning Kodu is also fun for adults to learn how games are made, and its much cheaper than any class you can take in school.I try to instill a passion for it, hoping for quick understanding.
But they approach computers differently from how I was introduced to them. When I was their age, we had a PET computer with a cassette tape drive. We then moved onto a DOS machine, but you really had to know how the thing operated at a fundamental level to use it fully. By comparison, my kids share their own laptop, and the internet (and thus the world) is at their fingertips. They dont need to understand the underlying workings of the operating system to play Minecraft. The only thing Ive had any success with has been Kodu, a fantastic computer game programming environment from Microsoft. We found a few tutorials online, and all three of us played around with it, creating some rudimentary programs. Kodu Game Lab For Kids How To Use TheBut I couldnt find any systematic way to learn how to use the available tools, and the Kodu website mostly has introductory videos. They are great for piquing your interest, but not so great for a thorough curriculum. This prolific author, and writer for GeekDad, has written a book perfectly suited to my needs. ![]() You can design the environment itself, add objects, change objects characteristics, and control the objects. Then you can start designing a simple game, such as shooting fish. You can keep score along the way, one point for each fish, and the game can be over when you reach a chosen number of points. You can add another player to your game, make the game more difficult, and even get your objects to shoot back at you. It moves on to camera controls, healing your player, in-game instructions, environmental special effects, sound effects, and adding cut-scenes between pieces of the action, such as when you finish a level. The book also includes plenty of game design tips to help you be a better programmer. You can also share your game with others, and try theirs out in return. And once youve oriented yourself to the programming environment, try out one of four sample games included in Kodu for Kids. You can re-create the sample games, play them, and then edit the specifics to change it up and play around. The book also makes suggestions on how to improve the sample games. Be creative, inventing your own games and learning how all the components to a program affect the final result. Kids will not only learn how to make their own games, but they will also absorb basic programming concepts which can then be used in other areas, perhaps even leading them to straight coding. ![]()
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