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With JavaScript, CSS, and HTML as their tools, readers are provided with the instructions for coding five different games: noughts and crosses (tic-tac-toe), snake, table tennis, endless runner, and a side-scrolling platformer game like Donkey Kong. Each chapter begins with a secret mission led by one of four kids (styles, skin tones, and genders vary) and a cat, members of the Lucky Cat Club. Coders are encouraged to create these games to help the club beat their rival gamers in a hackathon. A short history of computer games and gaming, elements that constitute an outstanding game, and notable games by genre are included. The illustrated text is accompanied by sidebars that contain word definitions and a concluding index. The correct code for each game is included at the end of each chapter, and a link is provided to a website that offers help and support. The explanations are well written and remain easy to follow as the blocks of code get more complex. Kids who love popular games should enjoy creating those found here.--Sharon Rawlins Copyright 2019 Booklist |
Reseña de Kirkus
A kids' guide to coding simple games using CSS and JavaScript.The multiethnic group of Ruby, Markus, Grace, Rusty, and their cat mascot, Scratch, invites readers to help them as they prepare five different games for a hackathon in which they will compete against their rival, SaberTooth Studios. The types of games are tic-tac-toe (called "noughts and crosses," to align with the British creator's website), a snake game, table tennis, an endless-runner game similar to Temple Run, and a side-scrolling platformer (think: Super Mario). Each lesson takes readers through it one game component at a time, ultimately building the code to double-page spreads that display the full code for each game at the end of its chapter. These lessons do a good job of contextualizing and explaining how the code functions as well as showing how much code goes into even the most basic of games. The Get Coding website is also referenced throughout as a resource for the activities and a source for some components of the final game (the shortest chapter of the book). The hackathon storyline, however, feels tacked on and provides little benefitthe premise is repeated a couple of times and then resolves off-page between chapters 4 and 5. The design helps break down explanatory text and walls of code into manageable chunks (though the escalating complexity of code may intimidate some beginners), and the illustrations will be full color. Along with an index, there's an introduction with an efficient history of computer games.An ambitious coder's new best friend. (Nonfiction. 10-14) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |