Coding Mama [Table 1]

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  Start Screen

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  Kitchen

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  Options

Inspiration

Our inspiration came from programs like Camp Invention and Engineering for Kids, where they give kids an introduction to the STEM field in fun and interesting way. These programs require a lot of money to do, and so kids who live in poverty without a lot of resources can't have the same opportunities as other children. We wanted to make a nonprofit program that will give kids an equal starting ground into an amazing world of education.

What it does

Coding Mama is a cooking game that tests basic java vocabulary. There's a "Culinary School" part, which displays the vocabulary the player will be tested on and then its definition, and then a "Kitchen", where Coding Mama quizzes the player on their knowledge. The player will be asked a question, such as "What creates objects?" Then, the player will click the ingredient with the right answer. If they choose the wrong answer, Coding Mama will be angry, and oven will have an explosion. If they choose the correct answer, Coding Mama will be happy, and stars will emit stars.

How we built it

We used the program Alice to build the project. We animated each of the objects (Coding Mama, the ingredients, etc.) to speak and have the correct answers. Then, we had event listeners that made the game more interactive by allowing the player to hit the buttons and move forward in the game.

Challenges we ran into

Internet issues were a big problem and kept us stagnant in our progress for a long time. We also difficulty deciding on who we wanted to help, and how we wanted to help them. Then, it was a matter of program cooperation, since Alice has a habit of freezing up in the middle of a project.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Being able to apply a loved aspect of our childhood into helping other children. We worked smoothly as a team, didn't have any arguments, and any disagreements came in the form of constructive criticism. We are proud of our project as a whole as well!

What we learned

How to work together to code, which started out awkward. We also learned how to be efficient with amount of constraints we had, worsened by the internet connectivity issues. Compromise was a big skill we needed to know how to utilize during this project, too. We needed to figure out how to cut down on our project, while still maintaining the idea of the game.

What's next for Coding Mama

We would love to use different recipes, and more vocabulary. The finished product in our mind would have multiple levels, each having an increasingly complex finished product, and implementing different aspects of java, which would get more advanced as the level number increases. The ultimate goal would be to have the player be fluent in at least the fundamentals of java once they completed the game.

Built With

• alice
• java