This is based on MIT's Scratch language, right? If so, I think using it as an embedded DSL is a really good idea.
Thank you!! We're using Blockly, which is essentially an open-source version of the Scratch language!
CodeSpells – Craft Magical Spells Using Code [video]
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Re: CodeSpells – Craft Magical Spells Using Code [video]
#22Man do I wish I had something like this to play when I was in high school. That quote at the beginning of the video is fascinating to me too. With all that is happening around wearable devices, the internet of things, etc., we're not too far away from a future of people gesturing and incanting various things and having their environment respond to them. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from m…
We totally agree!! Funny side note about the quote - We asked Gabe Newell (founder of Steam) if we could quote him at the beginning of our video, and he replied "Sure!" That guy must get hundreds of e-mails a day. I don't know how he finds the time to reply to them all!
I'm going to have to check out this book.
Re: CodeSpells – Craft Magical Spells Using Code [video]
#23I just played the alpha I downloaded from their website and it was great, has the player crafting actual code. Not sure what happened between that version and what they have now. I realise they're trying to lower the barrier-to-entry with the blocks and whatnot but I'd expect that if I bought my kid a game called CodeSpells they'd be writing code, so I'm not sure barrier-to-entry is really much of an issue in this ca…
Actually, players WILL be able to choose between typing in actual code or using Blockly! Sorry, it's not clear in that video, but we did want to show that this is a low-barrier entry into coding. If students want to code more complicated spells than in the alpha version, typed code will be difficult. Through our research, we've found students are able to make incredibly complex code using Blockly though. We think students will be able to learn with Blockly until they become comfortable typing with all the syntax.
Re: CodeSpells – Craft Magical Spells Using Code [video]
#24Man do I wish I had something like this to play when I was in high school. That quote at the beginning of the video is fascinating to me too. With all that is happening around wearable devices, the internet of things, etc., we're not too far away from a future of people gesturing and incanting various things and having their environment respond to them. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from m…
The idea that magic is a branch of maths (mixed with heavy doses of Lovecraftian horror and dour cold-war spy thrillers) is the basis for the splendid Laundry series of novels from Charlie Stross: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TheLaundryS...
Thanks for the suggestion, will have to look into it!
Re: CodeSpells – Craft Magical Spells Using Code [video]
#25While I love anything that encourages kids to learn basic computer science skills (since this is also my niche) this isn't the approach I would take, and I question whether such a simple "recipe" construction of primitive, limited algorithms will really provide any real skill development over what a child would learn from a chemistry or electronics set or even a cooking course. Based on this, calling your game "CodeS…
Another CodeSpells team member here... What's up on our website is pretty limited right now. I hope the Kickstarter page (launching tonight) will elaborate better on what we hope to do with CodeSpells. In our experience, students learn to code through exploring. If we can make a fun way to explore coding, I think students who may not have even been interested in coding before will come away with a feeling that coding is fun, creative, and challenging. We're not going to turn every kid into a hardcore programmer, but I do want kids to feel like it's something that is possible for them to learn & is kind of cool!
Re: CodeSpells – Craft Magical Spells Using Code [video]
#26Never forget Code Hero: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_Hero
We never will. That Kickstarter was a huge disappointment for the coding education community. I hope we can prove ourselves to be more communicative & reliable than "Primer Labs". I think our team has more experience following through on projects...
Re: CodeSpells – Craft Magical Spells Using Code [video]
#27Is it scripted in something like Unity3d/UDK or actually developed from scratch?
We're using the Unity game engine!
Re: CodeSpells – Craft Magical Spells Using Code [video]
#28The code it teaches is java :(
Re: CodeSpells – Craft Magical Spells Using Code [video]
#29This finally brought me from lurking HN to registering so I could post.
First of all, I just bought into the Kickstarter, go ThoughtSTEM!
I'm a coder and parent in the San Diego area and a scout den leader (2nd graders) and I've run into parents whose kids are in the ThoughtSTEM program and they all love it. ThoughtSTEM and Sarah Esper are VERY well thought of around here and have been actively branching into the community to offer more and more coding classes for kids.
I supported Robot Turtles as a gateway to programming and have a 7 and 5 year old who are now doing code.org. The 7 year old has also done Python turtle programming as well. Many of our cub scouts are on code.org and the technical parents have been very involved in furthering their STEM exposure and Codespells looks absolutely great! I'm going to email it around.
I was thinking of hitting up the ThoughtSTEM folks and seeing if I could arrange a whole class at our school next year. I know I could round up the people and computers, but now it sounds like they might be pretty busy for the next 18 months or so. I wish those folks at ThoughtSTEM the absolute best and encourage everyone to support them, parents around here consider themselves lucky if they can get their kids into the ThoughtSTEM classes!
I've also been aware of CodeSpells for a while and it is clearly a long-term passion for these folks.