[Martin Gallacher]

13/11/2016 at 10:38 am

I’m running NPA Computer Games Development for the first time this year, and I’m not sure what software to use.

My (currently installed) options are:
Scratch – not keen on this as the pupils have used it before and I want to offer them something different
Build Your Own Blocks – not keen for the same reasons as Scratch
Blender – the class have tried some 3D modelling on this, but found it hard, I think using this to create a game may be beyond them
Unity – I think it’s more complex than Blender
Flash – a possibility but I can’t find any decent tutorials for it

Other software I’ve looked at:
GameMaker – IT say we need to buy a licence for it and can’t use the free version 🙁
Construct 2 – same reason we can’t use GameMaker 🙁
Stencyl – can’t afford the licence 🙁

What software are you guys all using?

Thanks in advance for any replies,
Martin

[Peter W Donaldson]

14/11/2016 at 9:47 am

Hi Martin,

a compromise solution would be to use Alice 3 with pupils. It allows them to create 3d games, is blocks based but organised in a different way to Scratch and there are a number of websites with tutorials for it.

If you’re interested in finding out more I can post a reply later on with a list of links.

[Martin Gallacher]

14/11/2016 at 7:41 pm

Thanks for the quick reply! I’ll have a look at Alice. If you could post links to tutorials that would be great 🙂

[Peter W Donaldson]

15/11/2016 at 1:08 pm

The main site to download Alice 3 is http://www.alice.org/index.php?page=downloads/download_alice3.1

Useful Alice 3 tutorials and video demos can be found on the following sites

• Alice sites introductory materials http://www.alice.org/3.1/materials_introduction.php
• Alice sites How to Guide http://www.alice.org/3.1/materials_guide.php
• Alice site video tutorials http://www.alice.org/3.1/materials_videos.php
• Alice tutorials site http://alicetutorials.blogspot.co.uk/
• Georgia Tech’s distance learning site Alice 3.1 section http://ice-dl.cc.gatech.edu/?q=node/798
• Duke Universities Alice Site http://www.cs.duke.edu/csed/alice09/tutorialsAlice3.php
• Oracles Getting Started with Java Using Alice http://www.curriki.org/oer/Getting-Started-With-Java-Using-Alice-59889/
• Currikis Alice Programming Group http://www.curriki.org/groups/aliceProgramming/

There is an online textbook that explains some of the key CS concepts well but it’s for Alice 2 which has a number of significant differences. Might be good as a reference for how to explain certain ideas though https://sites.google.com/site/ucsdicpwithalicebeginners/

[Martin Gallacher]

15/11/2016 at 8:06 pm

Thanks for that 🙂

[Lew]

05/12/2016 at 4:07 pm

Blender is a great solution as it integrates with python, but the interface can be a stretch for some.

Stencyl is free to use, and now has an educational support package. The visual language is built as an extension to scratch so could be a good call.

Never head of Alice3, I’m off to have a look…