I am really pleased that we have been able to setup a Young Rewired State center for this years festival of code, it is an intensive five days of coding to create new apps, games or webpages using open source data.
We ended up hosting it a Greenfinch Church, in Ipswich the Pastor and his wife are lovely and I am truly grateful for them to allow us to host it there, we could not have done it with out their help.
The Creative Computing Club have met several times for the regular club but this was different as they had to work towards a specific goal and they had to work together, we were also joined by some new recruits who plan to join in with CCC in September.
I really noticed it on Tuesday, they weren't just learning to code, they were also learning to communicate with each other. They were learning about each others skills, strengths and learning how to delegate and at the same time be diplomatic, during this I just sat back and listened to them, I really wanted to see how they would cope and only join in if the needed me. They have done wonderfully well the group aged 10 to15 years old, it is a really difficult thing to do, to plan an activity together and be aware of each others feelings.
Originally we had two Olympic Games based on the BBC's athlete data, one Zoo game based on the London Zoological Data with two more games by participants who are just simply learning to code, but in the end the two Olympic games merged.
We had our work cut out for us, none of them have ever made any kind of webpage before, so it was a matter of teaching them some basic HTML first and then, making the games in HTML5 to upload.
The second wonderful thing that happened during the week was just how much they were helping each other, the level of peer to peer mentoring was incredible, they all love working with computers, but it seems they also like to help others. I was able to sneakily listen (and learn) how to mod a Minecraft skin, which I will impress my son with next week. I also got to hear an older brother take his sibling through the first steps of coding in Game Maker and have the patience of a saint while doing it.
We have worked incredibly hard, so much so by Wednesday I had to remind them to take lunch breaks, the hard work however has paid off as we now have four games made over the week, several new coders and now coders having experienced a second programming language in that week. Three of the participants could only stay til Wednesday which make their feat of programming two games in three days all the more impressive.
The Games
Miner Man My by two first-time coders Miner Man is a two player underground adventure.The two man team had just three days to make it, very proud of them both.
http://pixelh8.co.uk/YRS2012/MINERMAN/
Stick Olympics
Amazing Physics and using the BBC Athlete data, take a shot and see how well you can do. Choose from several of the top archers in this excellent group effort.
http://pixelh8.co.uk/YRS2012/STICK/
Granny Zoo
Based on the the London Zoological Society and the idea of an imaginary zoo featuring some of the animals, this a top view interactive zoo adventure designed by a ten-year-old! Make sure you go in the Aquatic centre AMAZING? Works on iPad too!
http://pixelh8.co.uk/YRS2012/GRANNYZOO/
Cheese Man
Cheese Man is made by another first time code, get the good cheese and avoid the bad. This was made by a solo coder, with help from friends, brilliant stuff.
http://pixelh8.co.uk/YRS2012/CHEESEMAN/
By the end of close Thursday we all knew what we had to do, upload the info compile the games upload them, tomorrow on Friday we are going to take it easy, play games, eat cake. I am going to teach them some Xcode in the morning as they have asked to learn about iPad/iPhone development, so we will do that first, but that is it, it is time to relax.
Friday
I arrived bleary-eyed on Friday morning without a pack-up lunch but to several wonderful surprises, one being this amazing array of treats and two being the two wonderful cards the participants and parents had made for me. It was a nice chilled out day. We did a little Xcode development, and wrote up some short diary entries of the our week, it was great fun.
Testimonials
"I have really enjoyed this week at CCC because it has inspired me even more too make games and work with a team of people who are also interested in making games and programming, I have also found out that i'am very good with graphics and ok with code. I would also like to go to YRS next year and make even more games to a high standard, all of the team has worked well on the Olympic Game and i think that it has a very good chance of winning but we will just have to wait and see. My job for this project was to make the faces for the Bios and help out with the game graphics."
"I enjoyed my time working on the stick-lympics game, I made all of the bio's for all the athletes in the game, it was fun. I also enjoyed working with others because they bring different ideas together and makes everything easier."
"I’ve very much enjoyed this week doing the Young Rewired State and it has helped improve my knowledge in teamwork and organisation. I’ve also learnt to use HTML programming during this time and had a brief overview of XCode, which is used to create and simulate Apple product games that you create. Overall, I’ve had a great time and I’ll definitely be back next year for the next presentation." "I have had a lovely time as I have been drawing graphics for my brother who is the scripter for the game ‘stick—lympics’. My brother has been a real help when I had nothing to do he was their multitasking doing not just his game but helping with mine ‘build and mine’ which was very fun!!!
"I have tried to help others with ideas on what we could do and when I get home I have helped Ryan with graphics and ideas on ‘stick—lympics’. Many thanks to matt as when Ryan wasn’t there to help he was and without him we wouldn’t of achieved what we have"
"I have loved the time i have had at YRS im going to miss it so much and i have made A game with help from Tom and Henry and Matt special thanks to Matt."
So there you go!
I am really proud of all of the Creative Computing Club, they have done incredibly well, I look forward tomorrow and when we return in September.Follow me on Twitter here @pixelh8 or the Creative Computing Club @CCCSuffolk here.
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