Microsoft Research released a community game cum programming environment for the Xbox 360 called Kodu. Unlike most other video games, Kodu would let players create their own video games for the Xbox without any prior knowledge of programming.
What is Kodu?
Kodu lets kids create games on the PC and XBox via a simple visual programming language. Kodu can be used to teach creativity, problem solving, storytelling, as well as programming. Anyone can use Kodu to make a game, young children as well as adults with no design or programming skills.
The initial version of Kodu required the Xbox 360 console but now Kodu is available as a free download for your Windows PC as well. This means you no longer need an Xbox to design games with Kodu and you can play them on just about any computer using a keyboard and mouse (or an Xbox game controller, if you have one).
The entire Kodu program is more like a video game than a programming environment. It includes several tutorials to help you quickly figure out how to create new games, or you can look at the sample games bundled with the program for new ideas.
What is Kodu?
Kodu lets kids create games on the PC and XBox via a simple visual programming language. Kodu can be used to teach creativity, problem solving, storytelling, as well as programming. Anyone can use Kodu to make a game, young children as well as adults with no design or programming skills.
The initial version of Kodu required the Xbox 360 console but now Kodu is available as a free download for your Windows PC as well. This means you no longer need an Xbox to design games with Kodu and you can play them on just about any computer using a keyboard and mouse (or an Xbox game controller, if you have one).
The entire Kodu program is more like a video game than a programming environment. It includes several tutorials to help you quickly figure out how to create new games, or you can look at the sample games bundled with the program for new ideas.
You can easily edit any game by pressing escape, make the changes and then jump back into playing the game with your changes. Although you cannot edit every little thing inside the game, it still gives you a nice launch pad for creating simple games.
You can download Kodu for PC from fuse.microsoft.com/kodu. Additionally, the graphics settings can be turned down to allow it to run on a computer with lower resources. Kodu requires .NET 3.5 and the XNA framework 3.1 to run - if you don’t have them, the Kodu installer will automatically download and install them for you.
Kodu Teaches more than Programming
Kodu is a rich tool for narrative creation and storytelling
Kodu demonstrates that programming is a creative medium
Kodu helps children with critical thinking, breaking a complex goal into manageable steps, and iterate on the design process – an approach applicable to all academic subjects, business and personal relationships
Kodu introduces the logic and problem solving of programming
Kodu introduces conditions and sequences, which teaches cause and effect
Students learn about cooperation, logic and creativity in addition to programming
System Requirements
Operating Systems:
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP (latest updates required)
Additional requirements:
A graphics card that supports DirectX 9.0c and Shader Model 2.0 or higher
.NET Framework 3.5 or higher
XNA Framework 3.1 Redistributable
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