RunJumpCode : an educational game for educating programming

Abstract

Programming promotes critical thinking, problem solving and analytic skills through creating solutions that can solve everyday problems.

However, learning programming can be a daunting experience for a lot of students. RunJumpCode is an educational 2D platformer video game, designed and developed in Unity, to teach players the fundamental concepts of C# programming. The game enhances the player’s programming knowledge by providing a fun range of challenges and puzzles to solve. We promoted the interaction of programming through a ‘Code Box’, allowing players to enter lines of predefined code that modifies in-game objects. This tool is essential in completing the challenges and puzzles we designed. To allow alterations of its properties, we made further manipulation of each object possible, which would give the player creative freedom to complete each level. Quizzes and journals were utilized to assess and collate their learnt material for future reference. In addition, we created a mobile application to track each player’s statistics throughout the game and compare their progress with other users. A full evaluation study has been planned, the goal of which is to examine the effect of using the system on students’ learning.