Our New Guide to Coding
The original coding guide that First Coding put together and distributed was looking a little tired after nearly two years. We’ve since updated the guide to give it a refreshing new look as well as making it more relevant to the content we’re currently teaching. You can download a pdf copy of it here.
Game Jams
Weekly game jams such as the one held over at WeeklyGameJam are a great way of getting inspired and experimenting with new game design ideas. It’s also a great way to meet and interact with a community of people who share the same passion for games and coding as you do.
I decided to take my own advice this time and took part in the Can’t Touch It! theme where you have to build a game within a week that fits with the week’s chosen topic. After brainstorming a couple of ideas I got to work building a prototype in Scratch, then I worked on polishing it once I was happy the game mechanics were working. I’ve seen the most fantastic games that were built within a day, mine titled Circles was built in two days. I’ve detailed the process I followed over on my personal blog here.
The idea of the game is to continuously contain the smaller moving circle with the ever decreasing perimeter.
PLAY THE GAME HERE
App Building Workshops
This summer’s app building workshops will involve making a simple pirate game. The aim is to defend your island from random boats trying to invade. As the game progresses, the boats increase in number and speed. Here it is running on the Kindle Fire.
For more information about this and other up and coming workshops, please click here: http://www.firstcoding.co.uk/workshops/
Meet the Maker: Q&A
As I’ve been coding all day I decided to take time out to answer a few questions. I am very fortunate to have been able to turn a hobby into a business and as my business, First Coding approaches the two year mark, I discuss what inspires me as well as offer tips for people who want to start out.
The Big Move
First Coding is moving!
Our new creative space (which is only a short walk from the Old Fire Station) will play host to our coding classes and training sessions as well as other fun and exciting events, starting on the 1st August.
Our new address will be: Cheviot House, 69-73 Castle Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 3SP and First Coding looks forward to seeing you there from next month.
Launchpad 4 Life
First Coding is very pleased to announce that we’ll be providing creative coding workshops as part of Launchpad 4 Life‘s summer activities. Launchpad’s mission is to provide school leavers and young adults with essential support to develop personal qualities, skills and confidence in preparation for their next steps in life.
Amazing Competitions
We’re running our competitions again! If you’re in one of the schools that hosts a First Coding computer club, be on the look out for our competition. Over the next couple of weeks pupils will have to code a maze solving (virtual) robot with the fastest times winning some fab prizes.
Free to enter and open to all pupils whether they’ve previously taken part in the clubs or not.
Challenges
As the school year comes to an end, I’ve noticed that the number of coding challenges starts to increase. I had the pleasure of submitting a project from one of our pupils to the Wild Card challenge of an event this month. This category is for basically any project that failed to meet the requirements of the other sections and to be honest, it has to be one of my favourite categories as creativity comes in many forms. The student’s entry was a ray caster generating a 3d world that the user navigates through the lens of a robot. I absolutely love the attention to detail, especially the robot’s blinking as it automatically explores its surroundings and the project was completely designed in Scratch!
One of the things I wanted to do this year was to attend more educational and coding events in an attempt to meet new people, learn about the latest ideas in these fields and to (hopefully) get on board with a number of projects that First Coding can assist with. More news will follow soon.
One craze I have noticed at these events is the increasing popularity of the laptop sticker. Whenever I chat with anyone I always end up coming away with a handful of stickers. I’m not complaining as both my demo laptops are decorated with the finest of decorative stickerage but I do have a huge collection of leftovers. If anybody would like a random selection sent to them, then please just drop First Coding a line at hello@firstcoding.co.uk.
Business of the Year Awards
Can you all keep you fingers crossed for tomorrow please as it’s the South Wilts Business of the Year and First Coding is up for an award.
