Kodu Game Lab Shaw STEM Lab-2016

Objectives By the end of this engagement you should be able to Understand the basics of coding using Kodu Identify key words related to coding Formulate a game in the Kodu Game Lab

About Kodu Kodu is a computer program that you can use to easily create your own computer games! With Kodu you can: Create computer games Build your own game worlds Share your games with other Kodu users Play games made by other Kodu developers

Computer Games & Programming When you make a computer game, you are actually writing a computer program! Your program tells the computer how your game is played. The instructions in computer programs are called code. In some computer languages, your write code by typing. In Kodu, writing codes is easy as clicking your mouse!

Do you speak Kodu? Some of the words used in Kodu have special meanings. Here are some examples: World: The scene for your game. You can create your own worlds or use one that comes with Kodu. Object: a thing you put in your world, like a character or a rock.

Do you speak Kodu? Here are some more Examples: When: When you want an object do something, like on a mouse click or when it bumps into another object. Do: The behavior you give an object. What you want it to do, like move or shoot. Rule: Aline of When & Do commands. Rules tell your computer how your game is played.

Video Tutorial Click Kodu and follow along with the video! It is helpful to have the video on half of your screen and the Kodu Game Lab running on the other half From the video you should learn how to: Find and load worlds Add objects to a world Program When/Do rules Saving your work is different as shown in the tutorial! See slides 11-13 Click Me!

Do It! Using your knowledge of Kodu try and complete one of the following: Replicate an existing game, like Pac Man, where the rules and game design are predetermined. This gives you a framework within which to operate right from the start. Replicate an environment that all game players would be familiar with, like a maze. There are numerous elements about the game that you’d still need to determine. You might use the characteristics of a familiar physical game as your starting point, like tag. Numerous games are built around this simple schoolyard activity. Because it is a game that everyone is familiar with, no matter what incarnation you choose, your audience will have an immediate way of engaging with it.

Gotcha! In this video tutorial, we can see how to avoid some common computer programming errors. He explains ways to organize rules that will help you to debug future work. Click on Kodu to start the tutorial and follow along Make sure to have the Kodu Game Lab running as well

Questions/Research Explain the following terms in your own words World Object Run Do Rule Take a print screen of the Kodu world and explain at least five (5) different tools and how to use them.

Saving Your Kodu World After creating your world, select Load World

Saving Your Kodu World Click on the world you want to save, then click “Export”

Saving Your Kodu World Find your Team’s drive and current Engagement folder and click save.