Experience the Software Development World With a Game

A game that lets players experience software development could be an excellent way to teach coding concepts and programming techniques, including loops and conditional statement. Games that accomplish this include Zachtronics’ Shenzhen I/O, which puts players in the shoes of dissatisfied engineers who work for an uninteresting chip company and must design computer chips by hand. They are presented with increasingly difficult circuits to design. They begin by making lights flash in a particular pattern.

The interface in the game is very similar to tools for developers found in browsers and teaches scripting. Another great example is Screeps, which incorporates JavaScript programming and massively mrworkspace.nl/ multiplayer online gameplay to build self-sustaining colonies. Both games excel in teaching fundamental concepts and slowly introducing other players.