6 ms·

Ask HN: Do you know of good video games that teach programming?

Like actual programming with a programming language not like factorio.

ThrowawayR2 5y ago
What is the age of your audience? Screeps comes to mind, if JavaScript is okay. Human Resource Machine is lower level but useful for teaching basic concepts. Good though they are, I would not recommend any of the Zachtronics games since they are focused on being coding puzzles, not teaching.
- nassimsoftware 5y ago
  Game that can be played by anyone who can read and type.
dtagames 5y ago
Microsoft MakeCode Arcade is great for learning to code with games. https://arcade.makecode.com https://arcade.makecode.com
stellartux 5y ago
TwilioQuest is quite good. It teaches JavaScript and Python, including setting up the runtimes and some basic git stuff. https://www.twilio.com/quest https://www.twilio.com/quest
- Leftium 5y ago
  The Twilio API integration with the Twilio API lessons/levels was impressive, but otherwise I found TwilioQuest quite "meh." It teaches programming OK, but it's not a very interesting/fun game. It's more like programming lessons with game elements tacked on. So you actually waste a lot of time doing boring "game" things like walking around a map looking for stuff. You collect stuff like weapons/armor but 99% of the items don't affect the game in any way. I 100% completed the Twilio API levels and API academy. It wasn't fun so I didn't bother to try the JavaScript/Python modules. (Also it was a little too basic for my level. TwilioQuest may be more engaging for kids who don't know how to program, yet.) --- This doesn't exist yet, but I'd like to create a VR experience that teaches programming. You can write "spells" that use the magic of loops and variables to generate objects in VR and automate them. For example, a quest like building a forest of 10,000 trees could be done manually, but writing a VR "spell" would be the smarter, faster way. Later, this VR spell could be used/modified in the future for other tasks or just general VR content generation. It's not just a game, it's a platform for VR content generation.
  - nassimsoftware 5y ago
    The reason I'm asking this question is because I want to make a game about learning programming and wanted to see what the market has come up with for now. For now there doesn't seem to be a massively popular game on the topic probably because most educational games feel forced. This is the impression that Twilio Quest gave me after looking at let's plays on YouTube. Anyway, your idea sounds interesting however to know if people would like this you need to prototype it somehow.
    - Leftium 5y ago
      Have you tried https://codecombat.com https://codecombat.com? I think it's a YC startup. I think that's the closest to what you're looking for. I tried it back in the day, and it was OK. It's not exactly programming, but I think https://vim-adventures.com/ https://vim-adventures.com/ is the best example of a game that teaches a skill. Just making a good game is difficult. Just making good teaching content is difficult. So trying to both simultaneously will be at least doubly as difficult. --- As for my VR scripting idea, teaching programming isn't the main goal. When VR becomes the next social media, the content creators will either need to do a lot of manual work constructing experiences or learn how to program. It's really hard and messy to create an interactive VR experience without knowing how to program. So my VR scripting tool/platform will solve a painful problem. A lot of creators won't be programmers, so I think teaching them how to program/use the tool via a game would be helpful.
t-3 5y ago
https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/ https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/ Unreal Engine is free-ish and it's more fun than most educational games that I've seen.
perilunar 5y ago
Swift Playgrounds is pretty cool. https://www.apple.com/swift/playgrounds/ https://www.apple.com/swift/playgrounds/
high_byte 5y ago
LightBot is cute There's a cool one called "GATE" where you program a bot using only logical gates, hope you can find that one
andersource 5y ago
Don't know if it qualifies as a "video game", but I wrote checkerboard-programming[0], a series of puzzles that require you to write js to match checkerboard patterns. [0] https://www.checkerboardprogramming.com/ https://www.checkerboardprogramming.com/
- nassimsoftware 5y ago
  Nice! I'm curious to know what editor did you use for the textarea where the player enters code. Ace, CodeMirror, rolled out your own?
  - andersource 5y ago
    Thanks! It was indeed Ace
gabrielsroka 5y ago
This one uses JavaScript http://play.elevatorsaga.com http://play.elevatorsaga.com

Like actual programming with a programming language not like factorio.

What is the age of your audience? Screeps comes to mind, if JavaScript is okay. Human Resource Machine is lower level but useful for teaching basic concepts. Good though they are, I would not recommend any of the Zachtronics games since they are focused on being coding puzzles, not teaching.

nassimsoftware 5y ago
Game that can be played by anyone who can read and type.

dtagames 5y ago

Microsoft MakeCode Arcade is great for learning to code with games. https://arcade.makecode.com https://arcade.makecode.com

stellartux 5y ago

TwilioQuest is quite good. It teaches JavaScript and Python, including setting up the runtimes and some basic git stuff. https://www.twilio.com/quest https://www.twilio.com/quest

Leftium 5y ago
The Twilio API integration with the Twilio API lessons/levels was impressive, but otherwise I found TwilioQuest quite "meh." It teaches programming OK, but it's not a very interesting/fun game. It's more like programming lessons with game elements tacked on. So you actually waste a lot of time doing boring "game" things like walking around a map looking for stuff. You collect stuff like weapons/armor but 99% of the items don't affect the game in any way. I 100% completed the Twilio API levels and API academy. It wasn't fun so I didn't bother to try the JavaScript/Python modules. (Also it was a little too basic for my level. TwilioQuest may be more engaging for kids who don't know how to program, yet.) --- This doesn't exist yet, but I'd like to create a VR experience that teaches programming. You can write "spells" that use the magic of loops and variables to generate objects in VR and automate them. For example, a quest like building a forest of 10,000 trees could be done manually, but writing a VR "spell" would be the smarter, faster way. Later, this VR spell could be used/modified in the future for other tasks or just general VR content generation. It's not just a game, it's a platform for VR content generation.
- nassimsoftware 5y ago
  The reason I'm asking this question is because I want to make a game about learning programming and wanted to see what the market has come up with for now. For now there doesn't seem to be a massively popular game on the topic probably because most educational games feel forced. This is the impression that Twilio Quest gave me after looking at let's plays on YouTube. Anyway, your idea sounds interesting however to know if people would like this you need to prototype it somehow.
  - Leftium 5y ago
    Have you tried https://codecombat.com https://codecombat.com? I think it's a YC startup. I think that's the closest to what you're looking for. I tried it back in the day, and it was OK. It's not exactly programming, but I think https://vim-adventures.com/ https://vim-adventures.com/ is the best example of a game that teaches a skill. Just making a good game is difficult. Just making good teaching content is difficult. So trying to both simultaneously will be at least doubly as difficult. --- As for my VR scripting idea, teaching programming isn't the main goal. When VR becomes the next social media, the content creators will either need to do a lot of manual work constructing experiences or learn how to program. It's really hard and messy to create an interactive VR experience without knowing how to program. So my VR scripting tool/platform will solve a painful problem. A lot of creators won't be programmers, so I think teaching them how to program/use the tool via a game would be helpful.

t-3 5y ago

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/ https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/ Unreal Engine is free-ish and it's more fun than most educational games that I've seen.

perilunar 5y ago

Swift Playgrounds is pretty cool. https://www.apple.com/swift/playgrounds/ https://www.apple.com/swift/playgrounds/

high_byte 5y ago

LightBot is cute There's a cool one called "GATE" where you program a bot using only logical gates, hope you can find that one

andersource 5y ago

Don't know if it qualifies as a "video game", but I wrote checkerboard-programming[0], a series of puzzles that require you to write js to match checkerboard patterns. [0] https://www.checkerboardprogramming.com/ https://www.checkerboardprogramming.com/

nassimsoftware 5y ago
Nice! I'm curious to know what editor did you use for the textarea where the player enters code. Ace, CodeMirror, rolled out your own?
- andersource 5y ago
  Thanks! It was indeed Ace

gabrielsroka 5y ago

This one uses JavaScript http://play.elevatorsaga.com http://play.elevatorsaga.com