This game lets you make your own games and choose from a variety of sounds and graphics (Photo via Fuze)
Are a these efforts to get kids to code working? Here’s another…
The hot console at the moment is the Nintendo Switch. While people are impatiently waiting to play the new Mario, one company is making a program that lets you make your own Switch games. Fuze Technologies, UK coding education firm, is currently working on a game that will teach you how to make games for the popular console using the company’s custom language and tools.
The idea is to teach kids how to code using a modified version of Fuze BASIC. The “game” is meant to appeal to people at any programming level, whether you know absolutely nothing or actually know what you’re doing. You just boot it up and use either the Joycons or a USB keyboard to enter the code. The audio and game graphics will be packed in and you have the option to create 2D and 3D games all using Fuze’s language, which is apparently easy enough to pick up. You also have the option to create your own graphics and sounds.
If you want to get your hands on this, you’ll have to wait until next year. Dubbed Fuze Code Studio, it’s scheduled for release in “Q2 2018.” The company plans to release extra content packs in the future that’ll be available to download. So far, there’s no word on how much the game will cost, but chances are it’ll be around $60.
It’s an interesting, and different, way to get kids to code when compared to the endless sites and apps dedicated to it. But is it a cash grab? Teaching kids programming and coding is the latest trend, and the Switch is the year’s hottest gaming system. Rather than seeming like an honest attempt at being an educational tool for kids, it sounds like a quick way to make a buck.
Also, it may give kids the wrong impression of what creating games is actually like. There’s nothing wrong with trying to encourage their interests in the field, but at the same time, it may give them the impression that creating games is as simple as booting up a program and pressing some buttons. And anyone who remembers the user created games for the Xbox 360 may not be too thrilled to have amateur games for the Switch.
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