codeSpark Academy launches “Adventure Game”

For the love of

codeSpark Academy launches game builder

BY KATIE DEE

Throughout childhood, a kid’ s main goal is one simple thing: to have fun. Children seek out ways of playing that allow them to utilize their imagination and expand their own world into something bigger. Often, they achieve this through interactive video games such as “The Sims ” or “Animal Crossing. ” Imagine, though, that there was a video game that allowed children to build their own adventures, and learn in the process.

This has become possible with codeSpark Academy ’ s newest release, “Adventure Game. ” This update allows children to stretch their imagination and capacity for creativity even further with added customization

features and new methods of coding that turn learning exercises into a non-stop, interactive adventure.

According to Joe Shochet, codeSpark co-founder and head of product, “The most popular part of codeSpark Academy since the beginning has been our creative tools, we aim to give kids a fun place to create using code. ” This latest release strengthens that effort by adding even more ways for kid coders to express themselves while they learn.

With “Adventure Game ” kids can now use code in order to create open-ended role-playing games that are inspired by well-known and loved games such as “Animal Crossing feature also requires a lower amount of hand-eye coordination, making it more accessible for younger kids.

So far, the response from kid coders has been incredibly positive, according to Shochet, “Right now we ’ re getting about 20,000 ‘Adventure Games ’ per day created, and that's right after launching… We ’ ve had 360,000 created and we just launched it a couple of weeks ago so it has really taken off. ”

Shochet explained that when introducing children to a topic as complex as coding, it is essential to give them a personal connection to that material in order to keep them engaged long term. He said, “By allowing kids to create the same kind of popular games they are already playing, we can encourage them to stick with the learning longer by turning game time into learning time. Building early confidence and positive attitudes towards coding will build persistence through their coding education. ”

According to Shochet, “Adventure Game ” is codeSpark Academy ’ s biggest update since its inception back in 2014. He said that the goal of this update is to double down on and enhance what has already been shown to get a positive response from kids. “The create area is where kids are spending about ⅔ of all of their time on codeSpark. We released ‘Platformer Game Creator ’ first and then followed that a couple years later with a ‘Story Creator ’ and then this year with ‘Adventure Game, ’” Shochet explained.

Additionally, “Adventure Game ” enables players to bring more life into the story with the option to add fun and engaging animation features such as speech bubbles for every character. This helps to add a new depth to the storytelling element of the game as well as fuel children ’ s creativity as they code.

This game-based method of learning allows kids to absorb important knowledge that will give them a leg up later on in life, all while not really realizing they ’ re being taught because it is structured like play. Shochet says that this is the ultimate goal with every aspect of codeSpark. He hopes that the addition of “Adventure

Game ” will help to further kid coders' education without making the learning feel like work.

“Adventure Game ” enables kids to create their own unique avatar to represent them in the game, offering a variety of colors, outfits, and hairstyles.

A child works on creating a new adventure game.

adventure

to begin to teach children to code

The ‘Adventure Game’ builder

“We

’ ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on the creativity of the avatar creator, ” Shochet said. He explained that with the customizable characters in “Adventure Game ” representation and equity was the main factor in deciding what physical traits to include. “We spent a lot of time testing with kids, different hairstyles and different skin colors… a lot of them are kind of silly but a lot of them are about representation, ” he said.

When customizing outfits for avatars, Shochet explained that “Adventure Game ” also offers a “Heros ” component. This means that kid coders can create their character to be a real-life hero like a doctor or a firefighter if they wish to do so.

Players can also click on another creator's profile image in order to open up that creator's portfolio of shared games. This allows children to enjoy the games and stories invented by their favorite creators as well as share their own portfolio with others. “We ’ re essentially trying to build the world's biggest community of kid coders… [after sharing] the game first goes to our team of human moderators… and usually within about 24 hours it’ s published, ” Shochet said.

Shochet explained that he knows that not every kid who codes on codeSpark is going to grow up to be a computer scientist or a software engineer. The goal with “Adventure Game selves as someone who can code, therefore opening doors for future opportunities in the technology industry. “They are growing up in a world where computers are running things and if you don't know how they work and you sit back passively, the world is going to pass you by, ” he said. In 2021, more than 12.6 million games and stories were created by kids on codeSpark Academy which is currently in use in more than one third of school districts in the United States. “A social good component of our business is making sure all kids around the world can play this, regardless of socioeconomic status, so we ’ ve gotten a ton of positive feedback from kids in schools that are playing and coding [with ‘Adventure Game ’], ” Shochet said. Grant Hosford, co-founder and general manager of codeSpark, said, “‘Adventure Game ’ furthers our goal of inspiring kids to create with code and express themselves in new ways. This easy-to-use creative mode gives parents, teachers, and kids even more of what they love about codeSpark Academy. Kids were emphatic during play testing about how much they love creating open-ended 3D challenges using our ‘Adventure Game ’ templates and tools. The biggest creative community for kids in the world will now be even more dynamic. ” z