69 and the demo ??
Monkey Forums/Monkey Programming/69 and the demo ??
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| Hay quick question.. IM about to start teaching two young kids programming, my son and his mate, I was wondering if I can give them my version 69 with all the extra targets deleted from the folder leaving on html5 so essentially making it an updated demo ?? or is there extra stuff I would need to remove , I know some one else did this just dont recall who or where they put the download. I will just use the demo if I need to which is fine, its just a lot out of date at the moment i would rather show they the current release(HTML5) .. |
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| I'm doing the same with my 2 oldest sons, but I haven't had a problem with the out-dated demo version on the home PC for getting them rolling. I'd be interested in hearing some of your teaching techniques. My oldest, with assistance, can now control a circle moving around the screen, avoiding an "enemy" square. I'm learning that I need to spend way more time on the basics of programming in general so they really know what they are doing. I'm thinking of setting up a scaffold of sorts, that has a sprite in the middle, and giving them IF-ELSE-THEN assignments, followed by some FOR loops, then introduce them to variables. |
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| Yeah it's a hard thing, this will be my second attempt at capturing and keeping his attention, the first time around I think I moved way to fast, I realize now that he was just nodding and saying yes to things when in fact he really had no clue what he was doing. lol. This time rather than hovering over him, I'm going to use the same technique's that were used on me at college, school, im going to present him with a body of work and let him explore it, in my case I have book marks on the small time outlaws tutorial videos, I went through them all the other day to vet them and they are next to exactly what I was planning to show him so they are a perfect start. It also means that I can let him sit and watch the video, he can then try the code, and then spend some time messing around with it and trying out his own crazy stuff, I will be sitting next to him watching the whole time, with his mate on Steam Voice doing the same, if they get stuck I will be there to answer questions. Once they have the basics, once they can open a blank page and go from no code to having a sprite move, I will step in and start showing them objects, and game design. FINGERS CROSSED.. it will all work out.. As for wanted to use version 69 with all the targets deleted, I want to eventually get them onto Diddy which needs the new version of monkey, otherwise I will be happy to use the demo if thats what mark/brl want me to do. |
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| I might actually get the both on Google+ and take advantage of the Hangouts, but that will come later if they actually stick it out this time . I think using the hangouts to teach will be an amazing tool as it will allow me to show/capture my desktop as well as switch to video cam at the click of a button which is well handy. |
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| I will be sitting next to him watching the whole time I think this is a bad idea, nothing worse than someone mouth breathing down your neck while you are trying to learn - its just added pressure to not make a mistake that is not needed - it's meant to be fun! Show him the videos, give him a pen and paper and after he has watched them tell him to shout you and ask any questions he may have, or maybe even answer some questions that you have made from watching the video beforehand to prove he has understood it. Either way it's cool, and I did the same thing with my little brother (not with Monkey though) but I just let him get on with it and he would come to me for help when he was stuck or unsure about anything, but he was older at 16 so I knew he wasn't gonna be messing around when I wasn't there. |
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| Yeah what I meant was that my PC and the one he is using sit next to each other :) I did'nt really mean I will be looking over his shoulder the whole time, I will get on with some art work, or code of my own, but I will be there if and when they need my help or they get stuck on something. |
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| Have you considered giving them a clickteam product to mess around with? It's game making without having to actually code |
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| Nah I want them actually coding, I'm being selfish and hope he does not read this post, but I want him learning monkey so that we can work on games together, not only that but monkey is miles away from any basic roots it might have had so its actually going to teach him really good objective programming techniques. Little Selfish I know , but hay what you gona do lol. |
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| I'm sure you said the other day he didn't want to learn coding with you, the whole dad = uncool thing, and now he is learning Monkey with you watching over his shoulder? ...maybe get some friends your own age to code with? j/k lol! I think he needs to enjoy it and WANT to do it...whether that means him using a Clickteam product, Construct2, AGS or whatever, let him be creative and don't try and force him down any route - let him discover for himself. |
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| Yeah I'm so the uncoolest guy in his world BAHH! lol He recently dogged? bunked ? skipped is probably a more universal word to use, yeah he skipped some classes, ad got caught which ended up with his mother giving him THE TALK dumdum duuummmm!!. Thing is he's 15, 16 in a few months and able to leave school for a job in 3 or 4 months, so I think his mum explained to him how important school is, and what his options were, scared him a bit which is why I think the programming on Thursdays came about. Either way I get to spend some quality time with my son, doing something I enjoy and hope he does as well. I'm under no illusions tho, it might last a day, a week or two or a month, i'm just going to enjoy it and try not to force him with anything damn its like coding with a deer if you spook him hes just gona bugger off to his Xbox and PC to play Oblivian or some crap. |
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| My son is 9 and has expressed interest in programming. I started him with Blitz 3D. I started by explaining screen coordinates and resolution. Also how RGB is used to define color. He said let's draw a rainbow. I had him use a piece of paper and figure out the coordinates on the screen and then define a different color for each rect. He surprised me with how quickly he grasped all of the concepts. I wasn't sure what to expect at his age. He is in the gifted program and is very quick with math, so that probaby helps. I am trying to decide where to go next. I have also been considering the small time outlaws tutorials as well. I just went back and watched some of them again and they are really good. I think I may go that route and fill in any gaps. When I was about 12 or 13 in the early 80's, I designed a tie fighter sprite and moved it around the screen and bounced it off of the edges on my C64. I can still remember the feeling of satisfaction 30 years later and showing my parents what I did. My parents always fostered my interest and I now make a lot of money in the IT world. I haven't pushed any of my kids into what I want them to do, but I definitely want to encourage them in the things that they want to do. I would be interested to hear ages and if there are other parents that have successfully taught their kids. This is a great thread and I would love to have more discussion. |
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Thank you Why0Why, because of your post I did this........ THANKS MAN.. REALLY LOL>... do you know how many times she has asked me when she can start making hello kitty in space with ponies and lazers. ??? Might have just bitten off more than I can chew. |
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| Perhaps work as a family, Dad, Son and Daughter team :) |
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| I just hope my sanity can handle it, wont be long till shes asking me to draw her little cats and ponies so she can move em around . |
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| That is awesome! Maybe you can use your art as a reward. Once she gets to a certain level you can make her a pony, then on the next level you can make a laser for it :) I am the opposite, I bought my girls a tablet so they can draw me art! |
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 her first game sprite, told her that she has to draw everything her games will use, and I will take what she draws and make it look better. :) anyone with tips on keeping a 9 year old with the attention span of a nat interested please post em. |
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| Idea for a game: Float lots of cakes from the top of the screen towards a character with a huge mouth, the aim is too fill the 'Sickometer' - which is a progress bar, once the progress bar is filled you see a cut scene where the character is chucking their guts up :) You could get your daughter to create the sound effects and cut scene art ;) What ya think? AAA game in the making? |
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| Why0why, hows your son getting along ? cerys is working away on art at the moment and I have started to sprite-ify? it up for her. were gona do all the art, and plan it out before i nudge her toward any code, gives her more time to let it all soak in. My son is doing a day or two a week and his next coding day is set for this thursday so will need to wait and see if he holds interest or not. |
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