Kodu Game Lab
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| Developer(s) | Microsoft Research |
|---|---|
| Initial release | June 30, 2009[1] |
| Written in | XNA |
| Operating system | Windows |
| Platform | PC, Xbox 360 |
| Type | Visual Programming |
| Website | Kodu |
Kodu, originally named Boku, is a programming integrated development environment (IDE) by Microsoft's FUSE Labs. It runs on Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10. It was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace on June 30, 2009.[2] A Windows version is available to the general public for download from Microsoft's FUSE web portal.[3]
Overview
Kodu is a visual programming tool which builds on ideas begun with Logo in the 1960s and other current projects such as AgentSheets, Squeak and Alice. It is designed to be accessible by anyone.
Kodu is available to download as an Xbox 360 Indie Game. There is also a PC version in an open beta which is available to anyone at their website.
Kodu is different from those other projects in several key ways:
- It avoids typing code by having users construct programs using visual elements via a game controller
- Rather than a bitmapped or 2D display, programs are executed in a 3D simulation environment, similar to Alice
Kodu Game Lab has also been used as an educational learning tool in selected schools and learning centers.
Language design
Kodu's programming model is simplified and can be programmed using a gaming controller or a combination of the keyboard and mouse. It dispenses with most "serious" programming conventions, including symbolic variables, branching, loops, number and string manipulation, subroutines, polymorphism, and so on.
This simplicity is achieved by situating the programming task in a largely complete simulation environment. The user programs the behaviors of characters in a 3d world, and programs are expressed in a high-level, sensory paradigm consisting of a rule-based system or language, based on conditions and actions.
The typical "hello world" of Kodu is:
see - fruit - move - towards
The grammar, as it were, of this expression is:
<condition> <action>
Where <condition> is:
<sensor> [<filter> ...]
And <action> is:
<verb> [<modifier> ...]
An illustrative variant of the above program is:
see - red - fruit - move - towards - quickly
Many different types of games can be made in Kodu, such as racing, strategy, RPGs, adventure, platform, puzzle, 1st person shooters, and others.
See also
- Kodu Kup 2010
- Educational programming language
- Visual programming language
- Microsoft Small Basic
- Scratch (programming language)
- RoboMind
- Baltie
- Phrogram
- Klik
- ToonTalk
References
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