This week, let's take a look at working with the Microsoft animation freeware, Kodu. I like that it's easy to learn and you can build your first game in less than 30 minutes. While you don't get to see the actual programming code in action like you can in Alice, Kodu gives you many more ways to build event handling situations. Meaning, controlling what happens when characters (objects) come in contact (interact) with each other. This makes it very good at building games!

I've recorded a short video showing you a "kickball" game I created that demonstrates how to add characters, change their properties, and add character animation, actions and control how a game is "won".

To note: since this is a Microsoft product, PC is its world! However, you can load Kodu using a Mac, as long as you have the "bootcamp" utility enabled (meaning, you can log on to your workstation in PC mode). For details, check out these links:


http://www.fanhow.com/knowhow:Find_BootCamp_27672602

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Camp_(software)

Later, I'll show you some more cool Kodu features, where you can build scenes, like valleys, water, and sky colors, and add multiple characters that move independently to compete or work together in your game.