

CodeCombat's live coding level editor - nwinter
http://blog.codecombat.com/post/64394275470/new-feature-onslaught

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schmatz
That level editor is awesome(and the 2.5D physics must have been painful to
program.) When the source is released, I can't wait to see what people do with
it!

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nwinter
Me neither! It should be possible to build hugely different levels with it,
kind of like the StarCraft II map editor (which lets you build first-person
shooters, underground, or like 2D sidescroller arcade games.)

I really want to get it so that people can create campaigns for younger
students, or for advanced developers.

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Timsalabim
Played through the first levels and I really like the idea. I've been thinking
about how I could get my kids started and this seems like a great way.

I also see possiblities for some really cool stuff for more experienced
coders, especially in multiplayer.

Mentioned earlier: make it completely playable through keyboard. When I got
the first alert that I had to use "enter" to continue I was thinking how great
it was it was just keyboard and then it started mixing up.

I understand the server being hammered so errors pop up that shouldn't be
there. But if I didn't have the knowledge level I have (simply being sure that
the error was wrong and the code was right I might have bailed out in the
first couple of lessons by not being sure what to do. So I think you should
also put some thought in helping people new to coding navigate the errors also
when they are not due to server error.

I will play it through as I'm curious how you'll make it more difficult, or
better put, make it so that the player needs to program more instead of just
putting the right commands in the right order. I can see it getting out of
hand rather quickly on the development side :) But things like different
classes that you can execute based on stuff happening on the screen would be
great.

Good luck!

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neovive
Great Job!!! I am working on an after-school programming club for my son's
elementary school. Scratch is currently the main focus of the curriculum, but
I could see this being a very enjoyable way to introduce text-based
programming without resorting to HelloWorld-style tutorials. What is the best
way to provide feedback?

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nwinter
Sending us emails through the contact form on our site (or just to
team@codecombat.com) is a great way to get the discussion going. Eager to talk
about how we can make this awesome for your son and his friends!

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dreeves
I'm often asked for recommendations on how to learn to program and this will
probably be perfect for nerdier types (but looks like it assumes zero initial
knowledge, which is awesome). What other things do folks recommend? Coursera?
Code School? Khan Academy?

~~~
gsaines
Hi Dreeves, here's a partial list of the projects we've seen:

ONLINE VIDEO LECTURES

Let's Code Test Driven JavaScript:
[http://www.letscodejavascript.com/](http://www.letscodejavascript.com/)

One Month Rails: [https://onemonthrails.com/](https://onemonthrails.com/)

Learnable: [https://learnable.com/](https://learnable.com/)

Code School: [http://www.codeschool.com/](http://www.codeschool.com/)

Treehouse: [http://teamtreehouse.com/](http://teamtreehouse.com/)

CodeHS: [http://codehs.com/](http://codehs.com/) \- "Computer science class in
a box" for k-12 schools

Learn Street: [http://www.learnstreet.com/](http://www.learnstreet.com/)

CODE CHALLENGES

Top Coders: [http://www.topcoder.com/](http://www.topcoder.com/)

Hacker Rank: [https://www.hackerrank.com/](https://www.hackerrank.com/)

Interview Street:
[https://www.interviewstreet.com/](https://www.interviewstreet.com/)

OTHER

CodeCombat: [http://codecombat.com](http://codecombat.com) \- online game that
teaches Javascript

Codecademy: [http://codecademy.com/](http://codecademy.com/)

CodeAvengers: [http://www.codeavengers.com/](http://www.codeavengers.com/) \-
Pay-per-module coding game

Hakitzu:
[http://www.kuatostudios.com/games/hakitzu/](http://www.kuatostudios.com/games/hakitzu/)
\- Paid iPad game that teaches coding

Kodable: [http://www.surfscore.com/](http://www.surfscore.com/) \- iPad game
that teaches coding

Full disclosure, I run CodeCombat.

There are dozens upon dozens of other not-for-profits and pre-monetization
projects out there, but this list covers most of the major players.

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tarr11
I am teaching a class for 4th graders to learn to code. We will definitely be
trying out CodeCombat!

~~~
gsaines
Glad to hear it tarr11, if you guys find anything that's busted or could be
improved, please let us know, we're always looking for ways to improve!

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rufugee
I thought the "taste my longsword" snippet on the second level a little risque
for my own kids. That said, maybe it was meant completely innocently and my
minds in the gutter.

I love the fact that you can continue past certain things by pressing enter.
It'd be REALLY nice if you could do most things from the keyboard
(pause/resume time, cast the spell, etc)...having to grab the mouse is
disruptive when you're trying out code.

Good work all around though. Very fun game and I look forward to its future!

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gsaines
Huh, we hadn't thought of that, but it's almost incidental to the plot, we
could change that dialogue no problem.

I agree about the keyboard/mouse confusion. I find myself switching far too
often. We need to figure something out that works better.

Thanks for the kind words, we'll definitely be working to continue improving
the game!

