Day: December 5, 2017

Hour of Code – Day 2

by dougpete, posted in Computational Thinking, computer science, Computers, Education, Hour of Code, Just Rambling, learning, Teaching

Keeping the ball rolling, I’m trying out the suggestions for Hour of Code from its activity page this week.

Now something for the gamers among your students – Code Combat – Escape the Dungeon.  The scary dungeon is called Kithgard Dungeon.  And, there’s a path carefully laid out to get your through the dungeon.  Avoiding all the things that make dungeons dangerous, of course.

Unlike the drag and drop interface, here you’ll be doing a little coding.  You can play anonymously but it’s going to be difficult to finish in an hour.  I just kept my game going putting my computer to sleep as I moved along.

When you start the game, you’re given a choice of programming languages.

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I went with the default, Python.

So, you’re plunked into this dungeon with all of these challenges.  If you’ve ever played this type of game before, you know that movement and avoiding bad things is your challenge.

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Sometimes, the shortest path isn’t the most desirable.  Especially if you don’t want to let ogres see you!

The scripting appears in a menu so you don’t need to know all the complete syntax but make the wrong choice and your hero will head in the wrong direction.

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I like the commenting that appears right in the code for you.  It explains what to do and also demonstrates how to use comments.  Start them early.

It was fun working my way through the levels.  Challenges increase with every level but that serves to engage.  Background music adds to the atmosphere.  At the completion of each level, there are rewards to keep you inspired.

If you’d like a gaming approach to your Hour, give this one a shot.

OTR Links 12/05/2017

by dougpete, posted in Links

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.