GameDev at Edinburgh CoderDojo

2014’s first Edinburgh CoderDojo was all about game development. The session started with a brief discussion of what game development is and how it works including the various disciplines involved and the different stages of the development cycle. After a quick look at the myriad of excellent free tools available to try, the group was divided into two parts, one where the young people could get creative with Microsoft’s Kodu and the other where they could get their hands dirty with the Unity3D engine.

Both of these tools enabled them to start creating 3D games with ease. Kodu offers a visual programming language suitable for young children and adults alike, allowing for narrative creativity and storytelling while teaching logic and problem solving skills involved in programming.

Unity3D is a more involved tool, which might be too complex for younger audiences, but provides much more control and flexibility, enabling anyone to create production quality games. This proved popular with the slightly older age group, although people as young as 10 were able to follow along with great interest too. The basic building blocks of the engine were explored through a simple tutorial, which provided the foundation for a project which could be expanded upon in the future.

Overall the day was a success and everyone seemed eager to continue with their exciting projects at future Dojos. Looking forward to the next one in February.

Timea Tabori

CoderDojo Mentor