Introductions
Use this thread to introduce yourself and let others know what you hope to get out of the course.
Tagged: Week1 RSS
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richard
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mnjorgensen
Welcome to the Planet Kodu, Kodu Game Lab course
We’re thrilled to have you onboard!
This course is will take you through many aspects of game design using Kodu Game Lab, a programming platform developed by Microsoft.
We’ve scaled the materials in this course so that Kodu users of any level of ability can benefit from being involved. During this course, we’ll explore the practical nuts and bolts of how to create a game but also discuss the broader theory of games design.
This course will, we hope, give you a greater appreciation for what a game is, and what Kodu Game Lab is all about.
Timeframe
We’ve designed the course to be flexible to suit your schedule, so you won’t have to fit in with ours!
Though the course is over five weeks, we’re not expecting you to be in one place at any particular time. Dip in and out of the material during the week, or take it all in at one time. It’s up to you.
Giving something back
This is an interactive course, and we’ll be counting on your participation!
Each week there will be challenges and requests for your involvement. We’ll be asking for your feedback on a range of topics and of course, most importantly, we’ll want to see the games you’re building!
Delivery
We’ll deliver the course right here on the Planet Kodu website.
New material will be delivered in blog posts at the beginning of each week. This means that if you want to subscribe to the course RSS feed, you can have it delivered direct to your feed reader! You’ll still need to visit the Planet Kodu website to participate in certain sections of the course, but the core material will be provided on the blog.
Of course, you can share your game designs or responses to the course challenges anywhere you want! If you’d prefer to use your blog to reflect on your participation in the course, and upload your game creations there instead of Planet Kodu, that’s fine! Just don’t forget to link to your blog in the comments field on Planet Kodu so other course participants can keep track of what you’re doing.
What do I need to get started?
You’ll need Kodu Game Lab installed on your PC, and you can download the most recent version of Kodu here for free.
You’ll also want Microsoft Silverlight. Silverlight is also a free install that amongst other things, helps with the delivery of high definition video files. You need Microsofts Silverlight in order to get Kodu Game Lab up and running. Some videos may also need quicktime installed in order to view them.
What if I run into trouble during the course?
Problems with Kodu? Where can you turn if you need assistance during the course?
There are a number of ways in which you can seek out assistance during the course. Your first port of call should always been Kwestions, our online forum style resource that already holds the answers to many of the more common Kodu Game Lab questions.
If you can’t find your particular problem represented, you can simply ask it yourself in the Kwestions forum, and the Planet Kodu community will endeavor to answer it for you!
You can also turn to the Planet Kodu comments page for this course.
Finally, you can direct a course question to the Twitter account @planetkodu. We’ll respond as quickly as we’re able!
richard
Rachel Schiff from the Kodu Team
We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak to Rachel Schiff from Microsoft’s FUSE Labs about the development of Kodu Game Lab and the future plans. Rachel can be contacted at kodufdbk@microsoft.com
richard
Game Making with Baaad Dad
Charles Howell (or Baaad Dad as he is known in the xbox Kodu Game Lab circles) has been creating games with Kodu Game Lab since the launch of Kodu on the xbox platform in July 2009. In this video, Charles discusses the strengths of Kodu, suggests ways to begin with Kodu and shares some of the games that he has created.
Videos of Charles’ games can also be seen on You Tube.
Inspector Kodeux: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5gZnbKb0eA
Kolosseum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYpQXdZ3e4s
Kodu FC vs. Kodu United: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93vhvGlIlU8
richard 12:28 pm on March 4, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Funnily enough my name is Richard!
I’ve been making games with Kodu Game Lab since about April 2009 when ideasLAB was accepted into the Kodu beta program. I’ve also created games with Scratch, MicroWorlds and Trackmania (not games but racing tracks).
I’m particularly interested in using the web to learn. Through this course I hope to deepen my understanding of what is possible with Kodu Game Lab.
pariah 1:24 pm on March 4, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
My name is not Pariah, just an alias I like to use. In fact I prefer it over my own name at times.
I played with Kodu since it was first release on Xbox Live XNA Games. I’m a big gamer and I love games that let you create so when I heard about Kodu from E3, I was excited. I never really finished any games on the Xbox 360 version but I had a lot of betas of tons of ideas.
I don’t think I really need this course as I understand Kodu quite well, but I find it interesting to see how others make games. Also the interviews are nice and perhaps I may learn something in the later weeks of the course. I also wish to help people with their coding.
richard 10:39 am on March 7, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great to have you on board Pariah, your help will be appreciated I’m sure – and has been by me already
mremington 2:00 pm on March 4, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Greetings, I have been playing with Kodu for a few months now and I think it is an awesome introductory game engine.
I teach a game design class at a high school and I am always looking for new ideas and discussion topics to share with my students. I look forward to the course and hopefully learning from all of you.
jjabraham 2:30 pm on March 4, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I’m a Computer Programmer who is currently looking at Video Games and Education (within the Education program at a post secondary institution).
I’m relatively new to Kodu, as I tried it for the first time only a couple months ago.
Unfortunately, I was only able to use Kodu for a couple days before I became overwhelmed with
other projects/work/assignments.
I’m coming back into it more for personal entertainment/enjoyment as well as seeing how it could be used by teachers.
I’ve also created games with Scratch, Neverwinter Knights & C/C++ (backed with OpenGL).
devra29 2:35 pm on March 4, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I’m an Instructional Designer for a virtual Community College. I’m very new to Kodu, but am always looking for ideas to integrate into courses. My background is a mix of teaching and working in corporate so I’m interested in how this could be used in a variety of settings.
Mustard 3:54 pm on March 4, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
My name is Erik, and I am a graduate student at the University of Alberta, studying Educational Psychology working towards a masters in Technolgy in Education.
I was recently asked to Assist in the creation of an undergraduate level course for Technology in Education, and we have been using two environments with our pilot class so far.
The first is Scratch, which went remarkably well, and the student enjoyed very much.
The second is OpenSim, which so far is proving to be a lot harder to implement than we had hoped.
I was pointed towards Kodu late last year, and have since started looking more seriously at it.
I am very impressed with what i’ve seen so far, and am very excited about putting forward a plan to implement Kodu in our new class.
I’m an avid video gamer otherwise, have been for many years, but have really started to look more into using video game creation as a tool for constuctionist based learning environments.
trema 8:14 am on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Erik,
Like yourself i work in education (as a primary school teacher) and i am also an avid gamer. I have been incorporating gaming into my program at school for the past 4 years. I have used gamemaker, scratch (quite extensively) and now kodu. I love the open ended nature of game design and the creativity it allows students to undertake. Looking forward to sharing successes and ideas.
Simon
mnjorgensen 8:11 pm on March 4, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Evening all
My name is Martin. I’m a teacher, and work at the ideasLAB with Richard. I’m loving my time on Kodu Game Lab at the moment, and flanked by my 6yo who’s become equally obsessed, I’m keen develop my skills! I also have a strong interest in game narratives, and am looking forward to building some games with that focus.
kathweaver 12:42 am on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
My name is Kathleen and I teach high school computer science. I am trying to find activities that are motivating to students.
I will admit that I have had trouble getting Kodu to do anything, which is why I joined the group.
pdonaghy 10:19 pm on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Kathleen
I’m an ICT and Mathematics teacher. Love programming. Very new to Kodu and also finding it difficult to do what I want at the moment. Look forward to learning from everyone though!!
corrie 5:48 am on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I’m Corrie. Like devra I’m an instructional designer, but at a “real” Community College. :-p (I’ve worked for Walden U, so no disrepect to my “virtual” colleague.) I found out about this course via Twitter, and thought it might be a good opportunity to try some game design. I’m always looking for things that can make learning more engaging.
devra29 1:39 pm on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Good to meet you Corrie! I like the virtual environment for now, but sometimes it’s frustrating not working with the faculty f2f. I also found out about this course via Twitter and am planning to share what I learn with the other ID’s.
karlak 7:34 am on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi, I’m Karla and I am an Instructional Technology Specialist for a K-12 school district. I have never used Kodu before but am interested in games that could be used in the classroom. If I could design them for teachers and then teach them how to design themselves eventually, I think that kids would really engage in learning more.
nikwing 1:47 pm on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi, I’m Nikko. Joined a bit late & It’s my 1st time using Kodu.
I’m a fresh grad & want to be a game designer/ artist.