GameSalad lets kids create custom games in a visual, rule-based coding system, so there's no need to know any coding language. Kids drag and drop images and sounds into a workspace to design scenes, then set behavior rules to drive game mechanics -- all with relative ease and in an engaging, resource-rich environment. Beginners can follow game development curriculum units with detailed student/teacher guides, video tutorials, lesson plans, schedules, checklists, rubrics, assessments, sample projects, and all the image and sound files ("assets") needed to complete a game. Advanced users can create custom assets, import them into GameSalad, and use the same drag-and-drop, programmable rule sets to customize game mechanics.
There's an active online community with lots of shared projects and how-to videos. Kids can publish their games for OS, iOS, Android, Kindle, and HTML5, and opt for monetization and social features with a Pro-level subscription; the Basic level allows for only HTML5 gameplay.
CodeCombat
CodeCombat is an adventure game and curriculum that teaches kids coding fundamentals. Whether they're stuck in a dungeon surrounded by enemies or racing across a battlefield prepared to conquer a foe, CodeCombat puts players into the action. There are hundreds of levels throughout 11 courses including Computer Science 1-6, Game Development 1-3, and Web Development 1-2. Through a robust dashboard, teachers select courses and monitor progress, as well as access comprehensive curriculum guides, lesson plans, cheat sheets, and more. The AP CSP Curriculum & Professional Development Hub is designed to support teachers preparing students for the AP Computer Science Principles exam.
Unlike other hack-and-slash fantasy games, CodeCombat players control their on-screen characters through programming. Want a knight to run down a hallway and taunt an ogre? Write a little JavaScript or Python that directs the character where to move and what to do. Want to roll a cannon across an open field and lob a bomb onto a patrolling enemy? Program the coordinates and launch your missile by calling the correct function. Each puzzle-like level challenges players to win the level by typing in code and running it to see what happens. Before kids know it, they've worked through the fundamentals and some advanced programming concepts and, in the process, outwitted some lumbering monsters.
CodeMonkey
CodeMonkey puts students in charge of helping a monkey retrieve its lost bananas while journeying through a whimsical map full of procedural coding puzzles, writing real code in CoffeeScript or Python to solve them. Designed for those with no prior programming experience, each of the hundreds of included levels is viewed from a top-down perspective, and students must write and run code snippets in one area of the screen in order to guide the monkey across each level in another. This separated style helps students instantly see the results of their work, and the game steps through each line of code as it's acted out.
Each new level of CodeMonkey introduces an additional piece of code or a new function, or challenges players to put previously learned pieces together for themselves. Difficulty increases slowly but steadily, and students can see how each piece of syntax affects the outcome. Students can also switch between Story mode and Skill mode, where they get extra practice on the skills they've learned. Students also earn achievements after reaching certain thresholds.
After players get the gist of the interface and puzzles, the focus is on getting each solution to work as efficiently as possible so it receives the maximum number of stars. If students have trouble solving a puzzle or don't receive the maximum number of stars, hints are given as to how to write more effective code. Students can share their best solutions and even create their own challenges once they've finished all the puzzles, while teachers -- with the paid classroom or school version -- can track students' progress and help students with an answer key of all solutions.
Thimble
Thimble is an online Web page editor and set of remixable projects designed to help students learn how to write the Web. The Web-based program displays two windows at once to show students how the code they write creates the pages they see on a browser. As students edit code in the left window, the changes they make to things such as color, font, and images immediately take effect on the right.
Template projects and teacher supports help bring the often complex code to life quickly. Thimble also lets students compose their own Web pages from scratch, when they're ready to work independently. Using Thimble lets kids experience the joy of discovering that they, too, can create and publish Web pages using authentic code.
Swift Playgrounds
Swift Playgrounds (for iPad) starts out like a puzzle game where players have to figure out how to enter and test code until they find the right solution. The code they learn to use is in Apple's Swift language, which real developers use to create iOS apps. Inputting code is easy; players can either type it in using the iPad's touch keyboard, or they can select suggested code from a list of commands. This code appears on the left of the screen while a 3D puzzle appears on the right. After inputting some code, players can run it and see a colorful, cute alien move around according to their programming. Running the existing code can be done at any time, checking for bugs along the way and iterating to a solution. Players are rewarded when they see that the little alien is successful in navigating the convoluted paths to collect gems, activate switches, and hop through portals.
Swift Playgrounds offers many courses. Some have students create completely different types of apps and games, such as a Breakout clone or a game that plots lines on a graphing app. New courses seem to be added regularly, giving Swift Playgrounds quite a bit of longevity. Newer units include augmented reality (allowing coders to overlay code and images captured by the device camera), data-related projects (like chatbots), and code projects for connected devices like Parrot drones, MeeBots, and Lego Mindstorm robots. Apple's website provides complementary videos and a teacher guide for each challenge, but finding them isn't easy since they aren't linked to from the app itself.
Mozilla's X-Ray
Mozilla's X-Ray Goggles allows students to inspect and tweak the code found in any site on the Web, including any of the individual elements that make up a Web page. Once activated, Goggles highlights these elements as kids roll over them with a mouse. As they click one of the highlighted elements, Goggles offers a pop-up window displaying the code, alongside a preview of that element. Kids can edit the code right in the window and immediately see a preview of what their changes look like.
Depending on the skill of the user, Goggles can show code in basic (color-blocked) or advanced (traditional HTML) form. Kids can add the X-Ray Goggles button to their bookmarks toolbar to activate Goggles on any website. If kids create a free account, they can even save and share remixes of websites with the rest of the world. The tool seems to work with most (but not all) websites.