4 ms·

Logo on Steroids - The new video game Kodu

58 points by chwolfe 17y ago

icey 17y ago
This looks like an evolutionary relative of Charles Simonyi's intentional programming efforts.
zach 17y ago
Here's a slightly lengthier walkthrough that shows a Frogger-type game being created: http://vimeo.com/2443941 http://vimeo.com/2443941
dustmop 17y ago
After watching this video: http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14310459/kodu/videos/ces2009sync_kodu_dem_010909.html http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14310459/kodu/videos/ces2... it looks to me not like Logo, but like all the existing Windows game creators - Game Maker, Klik & Play, Multimedia Fusion - but with a nicer UI and easy 3d. Seems neat, looking forward to me.
ScottWhigham 17y ago
Next time, please submit the single-page version: http://www.slate.com/id/2222546/pagenum/all/ http://www.slate.com/id/2222546/pagenum/all/
- pchristensen 17y ago
  I did but no one voted http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=697806 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=697806
ihumanable 17y ago
Looks neat but this definitely has very little to do with logo. Logo was basically a kid friendly interface sitting on top of a very Lisp like language, this is much more like @dustmop says, Game Maker or Klik & Play.
- nutmeg 17y ago
  The point is not that it is a successor to Logo, but that it attempts to reach the same goals as Logo. In playing with it on the Xbox, the programming seems more like Scratch than Logo. On a side note, does anyone have a link to the PC version? The Kodu site states that it runs on Xbox or PC, but I can only find the Xbox version.
  - Dobbs 17y ago
    According to wikipedia the current release is xbox only.
- blasdel 17y ago
  It's more like Squeak (or it's somewhat shitty 3D successor OpenCroquet) than it is like Logo or GameMaker
rufo 17y ago
Sort of reminds me of Apple's Cocoa (no, not the Objective-C toolkit). It allowed you to create games by demonstrating what you wanted to happen in certain situations; it came with an icon editor for graphics, basic variable support, and triggers for keyboard presses or when certain conditions were met - it was a pretty neat system to play around with. http://homepage.mac.com/senorwences/Cocoa_Projects.html http://homepage.mac.com/senorwences/Cocoa_Projects.html
raintrees 17y ago
Borland tried something similar, awhile back. It was called ObjectVision, and was before its time. It was not game oriented, more generic. You placed a graphical object in the window and then programmed its behaviors... I got 2 months into a point of sale system until I ran into too many rough edges.
Dobbs 17y ago
I'm impressed. Just went and bought it on my xbox, (400 points so about $5). Built a world or two, it took a bit of practice getting the controls down but then it was pretty fun. Some options are hidden in what I would consider weird places but I'm excited to take it and show the game to my younger siblings, I think they could really get into it.

58 points by chwolfe 17y ago

icey 17y ago

This looks like an evolutionary relative of Charles Simonyi's intentional programming efforts.

zach 17y ago

Here's a slightly lengthier walkthrough that shows a Frogger-type game being created: http://vimeo.com/2443941 http://vimeo.com/2443941

dustmop 17y ago

After watching this video: http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14310459/kodu/videos/ces2009sync_kodu_dem_010909.html http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14310459/kodu/videos/ces2... it looks to me not like Logo, but like all the existing Windows game creators - Game Maker, Klik & Play, Multimedia Fusion - but with a nicer UI and easy 3d. Seems neat, looking forward to me.

ScottWhigham 17y ago

Next time, please submit the single-page version: http://www.slate.com/id/2222546/pagenum/all/ http://www.slate.com/id/2222546/pagenum/all/

pchristensen 17y ago
I did but no one voted http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=697806 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=697806

ihumanable 17y ago

Looks neat but this definitely has very little to do with logo. Logo was basically a kid friendly interface sitting on top of a very Lisp like language, this is much more like @dustmop says, Game Maker or Klik & Play.

nutmeg 17y ago
The point is not that it is a successor to Logo, but that it attempts to reach the same goals as Logo. In playing with it on the Xbox, the programming seems more like Scratch than Logo. On a side note, does anyone have a link to the PC version? The Kodu site states that it runs on Xbox or PC, but I can only find the Xbox version.
- Dobbs 17y ago
  According to wikipedia the current release is xbox only.
blasdel 17y ago
It's more like Squeak (or it's somewhat shitty 3D successor OpenCroquet) than it is like Logo or GameMaker

rufo 17y ago

Sort of reminds me of Apple's Cocoa (no, not the Objective-C toolkit). It allowed you to create games by demonstrating what you wanted to happen in certain situations; it came with an icon editor for graphics, basic variable support, and triggers for keyboard presses or when certain conditions were met - it was a pretty neat system to play around with. http://homepage.mac.com/senorwences/Cocoa_Projects.html http://homepage.mac.com/senorwences/Cocoa_Projects.html

raintrees 17y ago

Borland tried something similar, awhile back. It was called ObjectVision, and was before its time. It was not game oriented, more generic. You placed a graphical object in the window and then programmed its behaviors... I got 2 months into a point of sale system until I ran into too many rough edges.

Dobbs 17y ago

I'm impressed. Just went and bought it on my xbox, (400 points so about $5). Built a world or two, it took a bit of practice getting the controls down but then it was pretty fun. Some options are hidden in what I would consider weird places but I'm excited to take it and show the game to my younger siblings, I think they could really get into it.