Ready to make arcade games? Game Development 2 now takes skills students have learned from Computer Science 2 to help them build a full-fledged arcade-style game that they can customize and share. Read on to learn more about how to get your students started.
We're excited to announce that students can now build their own full-fledged Pac-Man-style arcade game!
The CodeCombat team has been working hard to bring teachers this major course update to Game Development 2 and can't wait for students to try it out.
Our primary goals with this update:
- Improve Game Development 2 so that it serves as a great practice opportunity for AP CS Principles by teaching students how to write algorithms with sufficient complexity according to the AP CS P Create Task grading rubric.
- Update Game Development 2 to help students make more compelling games by introducing new mechanics and demonstrating how to build a fairly complex arcade game.
New features in Game Development 2:
- Students can now use collision, destroy and collection mechanics to build more complex levels.
- Students can set their own custom criteria for win conditions in their own games.
- New levels demonstrate how to combine all of these new methods to create a Pac-Man-style arcade game.
How do teachers get the updated course?
- If a teacher hasn't assigned Game Development 2 to their students yet, then their students will get all 22 updated levels as soon as the teacher assigns the course to them. We'd recommend doing so after they finish Computer Science 2.
- If a teacher has already assigned Game Development 2 and their students only see 11 levels in the course total, teachers can contact us at schools(at)codecombat.com and we'll be happy to update their classroom.
- If a teacher needs licenses so they can assign Game Development 2 and other project-based courses to their students, they can email schools(at)codecombat.com and we can help out!
Our course guide to Game Development 2 has been updated with all the solutions to the new levels, and we’ve released a brand new Game Development 2 curriculum to support teachers implementing this course.
How does this affect students in AP CS Principles Class?
Again, one of our goals in improving Game Development 2 was to make sure that AP CS Principles classes could use the course to prepare for the Create task project. To that end, we’ve published a standalone AP CS Principles guide for Game Development 2 that shows classes how to use the course to practice for each of the components of the Create task rubric.
Do teachers need licenses for their students?
Licenses grant access to Game Development 2 as well as all of our other course offerings, perfect for introducing computer science to any class without the need for prior programming or computer science experience.
We're excited to see all the awesome arcade levels your students will create! Please share your feedback, student created arcade levels or any questions you may have via Twitter & Facebook or email schools@codecombat.com
Continue the adventure! Share your pictures, stories and feedback with us on Twitter & Facebook, join the discussion on our Forums or contribute to our open source community. Are you a teacher, CS advocate, parent or administrator? Want to blog for us? Check out this post.