The curriculum for Programming & App Creators is based on teaching students to think computationally: to decompose problems, abstract and modularize, reuse and remix existing solutions, and test fully to arrive at a working solution. Students will use MIT App Inventor, a blocks-based programming language with a development environment that runs in a browser, to design and build mobile apps. Students build their digital confidence and become empowered to create, rather than just use technology in their lives.
We code using MIT APP inventor. MIT App Inventor is an intuitive, visual programming environment that allows everyone to build fully functional apps for smartphones and tablets. Those interested in joining the App Creators Club need no prior experience.
Need help in App Creators class?
Check out these resources.
Creating Flowcharts
Check out Draw.io for creating flowcharts.
Pair Programming
A quick video about pair programming to help better visualize how it works.
MIT App Inventor Tutorials
Why not consider tutorials straight from the source! Or go to the AppInventor.org website to not only view tutorials but to access a digital version of the ENTIRE App Inventor 2 book. 24 chapters of things you can do with App Inventor. The CS in SF site has LOTS of tutorials for App Inventor.
If videos are your preference, the AppInventor.org site does have videos. You can also check out Jennifer John’s Youtube channel for quite a few App Inventor tutorials.
Adding Media
Need to create some images for your app? Check out Piskels to create your own pixelated sprites. Pixilart can be another online tool for creating sprites. If you want to explore animated sprites, Pixilart can be an online tool, or you can check out Graphics Gale for a powerful offline tool.
Want to add some pictures and sounds? Pixabay can be a resource for finding royalty-free images, while Sound Bible has royalty-free sounds.
Game Design
So you are interested in learning how to make games but are not sure where to start. You are in luck. There are a lot of game design tools out there. Many more than what is listed here. This is just a basic collection of tools I have come across. Outside of the advanced tools listed here, many would have you learning the basics pretty quickly…if you go through the tutorials. For example, the Quest tutorial took me about a week to finish (with a lot of breaks) and I was able to make a very short beginning game by the time I was done.
Every link on this page will take you to tutorials to help learn how to use the tool. It will not always take you to the tool itself. Check out the Game Design Resources document. It has both links to the tools and to many of the same tutorials. A few extra links for examples are included as well.
Al Swigart has written some books about learning to program with Python. He also makes some of them free online. Check them out by visiting Invent with Python.
| Text Adventures Adrift Quest TADS Inform | Adventure Games Adventure Game Studio Wintermute Visionaire Adventuron Classroom |
| Miscellaneous RPG Maker Earwigo | Advanced Engines Both of these tools are considered advanced. Do not expect to pick them up and be making games quickly. If you want to learn these, it is very important to take baby steps and use tutorials. Unity Unreal Engine |