Fun, cute little game! Perfectly enjoyable for adults too. I look forward to chapter 2+!
If I have one criticism, on the Android port there is no way to zoom in and make the level larger, and it already is quite small on the part of the screen that's not the code window. Also, having finished the game I'm no longer able to access my save file, other than to watch the credits.
I've run into a level that I do not seem to be able to finish. When I reach what should be the exit for the level, nothing happens, as if I were just on a normal space. Nobody else has mentioned it, so maybe it's something weird with my computer. Picture of level:
We will look into this. Thank you! Looks like it's one space further down from where you're pointing in this picture. In the meantime, while we're investigating, you may need to exit (map button) and reenter the level. Hopefully that will make it possible to continue.
Yeah, I tried a bunch of things. Several different "solutions" to the level, going back to the map and returning, trying to go further down from the exit, touching the other tiles on the bottom, closing the game entirely and going back, and even a full computer restart (because my computer is kind of cursed and sometimes that fixes stupid things).
I got this bug too on the level after this, and I think I know what causes it maybe? In the level this person is showing, I managed to exit the level before dad did. Then in the level right after, it only let me complete that level when I completed it before dad again.
To complete the levels before dad, I used a glitch where if you have a reprogrammed/possessed robot's code open when the level ends, it gets permanently reprogrammed with what your code page 0 was when the level ended with its code open.
I also got stuck on the second level chasing dad after the wizard and squirrel go to the bar.
I had also managed to beat dad to the exit in the previous level, so after reading this comment I tried to reproduce the glitch to beat dad to the end but was unsuccessful.
Based off the theory of beating dad the first time causing the glitch in the second level, I tried to go back and finish the first level without beating dad, but it wouldn't accept the level as passed.
I then started a new game for a fresh start, but am similarly unable to pass the first level - I believe that this inability to win after dad was the reason I thought I needed to beat dad to the exit in the first place, but it doesn't seem possible to do so in the second level.
I've included a screenshot of the second level with my character at the exit. I can provide more if necessary.
I got the same problem on this level. I did not complete any level before dad did, so I do not think the behaviour described by rerere284 is the main (or only) cause for this bug.
I run into the same problem. Is there any fix or solution yet? Or does this mean that my game ends here? It's amazing btw, I really enjoyed playing. Great job! <3
I'm afraid this will mean your time with Codemancer ends here. We don't have the resources to fix bugs anymore at this point. Thanks so much for playing!
Hi, I got the game in the Palestinian Aid Bundle as well, and have been greatly enjoying the game thus far. However, I ran into a problem on one of the levels. It is the second level where the shadow self appears, and I can't find a solution to reach the portal. I can't kill the shadow self, and because they are doing the exact same thing the pc is doing, I cannot make my way to the portal. There has been no advice on dealing with the shadowself, and I've tried so many solutions. Idk if this is a bug or if I'm just stupid. Here's a pic of the level too, if that helps.
Thank you! I actually had the first part correct... just couldn't think around the problem lol. I got it eventually, took me about half an hour on the bus! After about a month of coming and going with the same level lol. And now I've finished 🙃*shakes the front door* MORE PLEASE! It really was quite entertaining, and I can see how this helps with learning code. Thank you, and look forward to seeing more in the future :3
I got this game from the Palestinian Aid bundle, and already have years of experience programming. I understood immediately that this was a programming game for kids, and played through to see how I felt about it. This game is awesome! You teach logic to solve the puzzle levels while also teaching sequential programming with loops, and helper functions, even recursive helper functions. I just want to say well done!! If I had played this game growing up, I probably would've gotten into programming languages at a much younger age.
Cannot wait to play this game!!! I think I'll gain a lot from it. I have trouble programming a lot of the time because of my brain damage making it hard to think straight. I think this game is AMAZING and will help me understand ways I can make code less confusing to me!!
My daughter is loving this game. We just got stuck on the first level where the dad is kidnapped. What's the objective? We reach the end but it doesn't seem possible to make it to the glowing circle before the copter. The copter is not attackable...?
I eventually figured this out by starting a new game. The issue resolved when I used a repeat rune instead of just listing out all the moves. Still, it's a bug that the copter doesn't always disappear when it reaches the end of the level. Unfortunately I haven't been able to reproduce the error on my new save file.
I had the same issue! Solving the puzzle with repeat loops or not didn't matter, it was stuck until restarting the app completely. (Did not need to start a New Game!) Maybe something wasn't resetting correctly after the first few attempts while I was initially writing my spell?
I love the game! As someone who teaches coding to kids, I appreciate not only the clarity of the code itself, but the lovely art and story (which is often missing in these type of coding teaching games).
I found one level design "bug" (with potential for more similar ones). Should I just comment that, or is there another communication channel for such things?
Alright ... SPOILERS AHEAD ... you have been warned!
In this level you can stop them escaping with the dad, by the following program:
0: Jump Left Cast (1)
1: Attack
Of course you will not progress with the game this way, but I feel like this is unintended. There is also the way to get in front of him and block the way yourself with:
0: Jump Left Cast (1) Jump Left Jump Right Jump 2 Right Jump
1: Wait 5 Attack Wait Attack
Which uses multiple maybe unintenden strategies. Take a closer look at the execution of this one ;) it makes a double step on the second step of the Jump 2 instruction in 0.
I think it is possible to trap the dad is possible in more levels although I have not tested it. Also as I am writing a lot already here are 2 more thoughts:
1. All programs appart from 0 are saved between levels, which I think is weird.
2. I tried to solve 1 level by using one of the bots I programmed to programm my familiar. This would have been helpful for timing issues (the need to count how much I need to wait in my program would have been eliminated). This might be an interesting mechanic to add, although I am not sure, if it is too complicated for this game (not sure how much the levels will teach/ how hard they get).
All of these are rather small issues. I still hope they are helpful to you :)
I'm not knowledgeable in much regarding computers, but after the file was downloaded I clicked to launch the .msi file and windows popped up warning that this could affect my computer's performance or just overall be a malicious. I realize windows warns against a lot of safe things, I'm sure this is one of them, I just wanted to double check and make sure that it's completely safe for me to download.
Usually I right-click it and ask Windows Update to scan it. If the scan comes back showing it's safe, I click Advanced > Run Anyway. Sorry wish I could help more! If it makes you feel any better, I ran it on my computer and nothing bad happened. Good on you for being cautious!
Windows automatically flags .msi files no matter where they are from. So, as long as you trust where you got it from and/or run a virus scan on the file, then it is perfectly safe to use. (This applies to any other .msi or .exe file you could encounter)
Codemancer is up for an award, and I'd really appreciate it if you could vote for us! https://t.co/W4GDQe9maf?amp=1. It only takes a few seconds. Thank you!
Just starting, so I can't comment on the game itself yet, but I find it jarring that, in the Itch Desktop App, the files are set up in such a way that "installing" the game apparently just downloads it, and you "launch" the installer, not the game itself. That would normally be an annoyance, but in a coding game, it feels a lot more wrong. Maybe someone needs to poke the install package?
Good point! We decided to include an .msi installer instead of an executable because school IT administrators tend to prefer it. Hope you like the game!
Ah, does the Itch desktop app not play nicely with msi? That's too bad.
I liked the game, especially the fact that you don't go straight for teaching literal coding so much as the concepts needed to be a good coder. I'm considerably out of your target demographic, but I pay attention to such games, as well as enjoying them as casual gaming. So, well done!
Incredibly cute and I think a very fitting way to learn programming. The start is especially strong with clear directions that slowly build up the players understanding. First couple of chapters have a clear focus on what they're teaching the player but I towards the end it felt a bit scattershot. A bit like I just bruteforced solutions without really using what I've learned before.
But overall, I liked it! Would be interesting to hear how well its worked for kids without a programming background.
Some issues I noticed: - Can't kill shadowself. Not sure if it's intended but killing the shadow just respawns it back again. - Scripts in other tabs are keept from previous level. I never had the need to reuse scripts from a previous level. - Some missing dialogue voice in the second half of the game.
Cool game. I'm 17 and finished it in 3 hours (maybe more?) and:
I think the part where you use an "army" is much more difficult than the "shadowy one" mechanic. So i don't think the game actually escalates in difficulty. Wich, to me, it's not a big deal.
Also, there's a lil 'bug': there's a level where a puppet needs to hit the lever so that 'dad' can go through. But I am able to entrance(?) the puppet so that he does nothing and i catch up to dad and hit im on the but with my face.
I'm no good in talking good about games, so if you want someone to tell you why this is good, go to the other comments
Nice game, got it in the bundle and played it until a bit past the sea journey. I know some programming, so my basic experience was "Yes I *get* it, now can we ramp up the difficulty faster or skip a few levels?", but then again it's aimed at kids, not at me.
I suspect you might need to spell out a few more things for kids, like "you don't lose if you bump into the edge, so a loop where you occasionally try to go too far (or attack thin air) is OK" and "You win as soon as you get to the goal, so it's OK if that happens in the middle of a loop".
IMO, the pause after winning was a bit too long (on a mac); I suggest checking if the code is a win first, and if so, start loading stuff in advance while the code plays out.
Maybe also add a "you win!" splash with a rudimentary grade of "Victory!" (got to the goal), "Fast!" (wrote the code in under five minutes), "Concise!" (few lines), "Precise!" (no unnecessary actions) and "first try!"(no need for debugging) .
On the whole, nice game, nice graphical programming interface, good graphics & sound, might recommend it for parents of younger kids - but for teens and adults who want to know a bit about what programming is like, I'll still direct them to Kongregate's LightBot, and for gamers who want to do programming puzzles, I'll still recommend the Zachtronics games.
The steam page says that it's available in German, French and Spanish as well, however I couldn't find a way to change languages in the Android version. I would love to play this game with my daughter, however, she doesn't speak English (yet)... Are the other languages available on Android?
Edit: Okay, I saw the update at the very top that says that the Mac & PC versions have the translations. So I'll update my question as well: Will they come to Android eventually?
This game is absolutely fantastic. I mean, I've been programming since childhood myself, so there was nothing new here in terms of learning for me. But the game is a delight anyway. The art and voice acting are excellent. This is exactly the kind of game I wish had been around when I was younger. I absolutely cannot wait until the next chapter.
Awesome game! I am both a programmer and an educator and recently found this when donating for the racial justice bundle. Your game is so far the best one I've found for childrens.
Been greatly enjoying the game so far, but I've run into a number of bugs. Two of the ones I've run into crop up quite often:
1. Voice lines don't always play properly, and sometimes clicking too early into a scene will screw up the sprite's positioning (as in, clicking to fast forward the text while the sprite is still moving around sometimes makes the sprite stop moving before it reaches the right place and be stuck halfway offscreen.)
2. Fast forward screws up the code. If you have more than two or three things on screen running your own code, the parser will skip steps entirely, meaning that sometimes you can't beat a level if you try to run it in fast forward. This is not consistent, it skips different steps every time, but the more stuff you have running (and the higher fast forward you're at) the worse it gets.
Also worth noting: the "dad capture chase" level in the forest? I broke it. You can cut off the helicopter thing's escape through clever use of the cast rune, I can provide details if you need.
Hi there! Love the game! Is there any chance of either a Linux port, or just an upload of the straight windows version? Wine doesn't play well with msi installers unfortunately.
this is a great little game - found it in the bundle and it's the first thing in there I decided to play! wish I'd had this when I was 12, it would have taught me a lot better than Basic. Very much looking forward to the next chapter. just wanted to report a couple bugs and offer a bit of feedback.
definitely a bug: I ran into some weird graphics issues on Windows 7, using an nVidia card updated with the brand new driver (I updated earlier tonight). it would occasionally lose or duplicate the star button where you activate commands, and I would have to go out of the level and back in to reset. I also had weird little glitchy graphical remnants show up in one case.
might be a bug or maybe I just missed something: In one of the last few levels, where there's several trees in a vertical line that you have to get a puppet to kill for you, if you program the puppet to attack 4 times and then jump into the spot it just cleared, it sometimes fails to do so. telling it to jump twice reliably gets it to the next square.
possibly intentional?: spells 1-5 don't reset to blanks at the beginning of a new level like spell 0 does.
also, I actually managed to beat the thing carrying my father in one of the last few levels (and then the game acted like he'd been dragged off ahead of me anyway).
feedback:
I think the age range cited is a little low for the difficulty/ramp up speed and complexity, especially with this just being chapter 1! It got challenging by the end for me, and I'm an Xennial who got Logo and a little Basic at around 10-12, and some Java in college. I'm not sure most 6 year olds even have the necessary level of cognitive development to handle running 4 'spells' at once.
I'd personally love a for-older-teens-to-adults version, that just adds a text window explaining how this stuff corresponds to real programming using Python. This is SO much better than having to try to learn from dry books, and getting to see both at once would really help bridge to the real thing.
One way that windows tries to tell dangerous programs apart from safe ones, is it automatically flags anything that hasn't been run by a large number of people as "dangerous". This means that programs by large companies often skate through with no problems, while anything programmed by individuals or small companies get caught in the filter. There should be a way to click through the warning and run it anyway, for situations where you're sure that it's overreacting.
So I started to really enjoy the game, when I got to the level where a certain flying drone is flying to a certain blue flame, and I got stuck - I get next to it, but then I do not know what to do - attacking doesn't help, jumping on it doesn't work, and there's no hints to what to do there... and it looks practically impossible to get to the blue flame before the drone...
Can't seem to fail either - after all the programmed steps are done, the stage just resets. Does the level supposed to end when the drone reaches the blue light? Because it doesn't; it just stands there forever.
I ran into the same issue in what I think is still the tutorial? When the drone captures a certain someone, I get to the blue flame and the level starts over.
Help needed - I can't find how to open the game? I downloaded the msi file and installed it, but can't find any way to open the actual game from the installer - what am I supposed to do to get into the actual game? Do I need another app or something?
I am Red-Green color defficient. I've played about 10 mins so far, and I was wondering how much health the little bug guys had, cause I didn't see their health indicated anywhere. So I looked a bit harder, and noticed that they DO have a health indicator, right below them! I just couldn't see them easily because it's red on green.
It's a fun game so far, but it would be cool to have a colorblind alternate for important UI features, or just more clear contrast.
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"cannot read file build of undefined" :/
I've not seen that before. Can you tell me a bit more? What OS are you on?
im on macos so that probably should explain a bit. heres the full screen shot
Fun, cute little game! Perfectly enjoyable for adults too. I look forward to chapter 2+!
If I have one criticism, on the Android port there is no way to zoom in and make the level larger, and it already is quite small on the part of the screen that's not the code window. Also, having finished the game I'm no longer able to access my save file, other than to watch the credits.
You should be able to two-finger zoom the levels, as long as you can get both fingers on the hex tiles.
Sem versão nativa pro GNU/Linux... =\
Sorry, the engine we built the game in doesn't support Linux builds :(
I see. What engine is it?
Any chance you could make the source (and resources) available after purchase for a self attempt to compile?
(formerly) Adobe AIR :(
I've run into a level that I do not seem to be able to finish. When I reach what should be the exit for the level, nothing happens, as if I were just on a normal space. Nobody else has mentioned it, so maybe it's something weird with my computer. Picture of level:
We will look into this. Thank you! Looks like it's one space further down from where you're pointing in this picture. In the meantime, while we're investigating, you may need to exit (map button) and reenter the level. Hopefully that will make it possible to continue.
Yeah, I tried a bunch of things. Several different "solutions" to the level, going back to the map and returning, trying to go further down from the exit, touching the other tiles on the bottom, closing the game entirely and going back, and even a full computer restart (because my computer is kind of cursed and sometimes that fixes stupid things).
So sorry none of those worked. I'll have to get back to you with a solution or a patch.
I got this bug too on the level after this, and I think I know what causes it maybe? In the level this person is showing, I managed to exit the level before dad did. Then in the level right after, it only let me complete that level when I completed it before dad again.
To complete the levels before dad, I used a glitch where if you have a reprogrammed/possessed robot's code open when the level ends, it gets permanently reprogrammed with what your code page 0 was when the level ended with its code open.
Hope that helps!
That really does help, thank you!
I also got stuck on the second level chasing dad after the wizard and squirrel go to the bar.
I had also managed to beat dad to the exit in the previous level, so after reading this comment I tried to reproduce the glitch to beat dad to the end but was unsuccessful.
Based off the theory of beating dad the first time causing the glitch in the second level, I tried to go back and finish the first level without beating dad, but it wouldn't accept the level as passed.
I then started a new game for a fresh start, but am similarly unable to pass the first level - I believe that this inability to win after dad was the reason I thought I needed to beat dad to the exit in the first place, but it doesn't seem possible to do so in the second level.
I've included a screenshot of the second level with my character at the exit. I can provide more if necessary.
I got the same problem on this level. I did not complete any level before dad did, so I do not think the behaviour described by rerere284 is the main (or only) cause for this bug.
I run into the same problem. Is there any fix or solution yet? Or does this mean that my game ends here? It's amazing btw, I really enjoyed playing. Great job! <3
I'm afraid this will mean your time with Codemancer ends here. We don't have the resources to fix bugs anymore at this point. Thanks so much for playing!
Hi, I got the game in the Palestinian Aid Bundle as well, and have been greatly enjoying the game thus far. However, I ran into a problem on one of the levels. It is the second level where the shadow self appears, and I can't find a solution to reach the portal. I can't kill the shadow self, and because they are doing the exact same thing the pc is doing, I cannot make my way to the portal. There has been no advice on dealing with the shadowself, and I've tried so many solutions. Idk if this is a bug or if I'm just stupid. Here's a pic of the level too, if that helps.
This level is solveable.
***** SPOILERS BELOW *****
.
.
.
Jump 3
Right 1
Jump 1
Right 2
Jump 2
....
I'll let you take over from here ;)
Thank you! I actually had the first part correct... just couldn't think around the problem lol. I got it eventually, took me about half an hour on the bus!
After about a month of coming and going with the same level lol.And now I've finished 🙃*shakes the front door* MORE PLEASE!It really was quite entertaining, and I can see how this helps with learning code. Thank you, and look forward to seeing more in the future :3
I got this game from the Palestinian Aid bundle, and already have years of experience programming. I understood immediately that this was a programming game for kids, and played through to see how I felt about it. This game is awesome! You teach logic to solve the puzzle levels while also teaching sequential programming with loops, and helper functions, even recursive helper functions. I just want to say well done!! If I had played this game growing up, I probably would've gotten into programming languages at a much younger age.
Thank you so much. I'm thrilled that you enjoyed it! Spread the word ;)
Cannot wait to play this game!!! I think I'll gain a lot from it. I have trouble programming a lot of the time because of my brain damage making it hard to think straight. I think this game is AMAZING and will help me understand ways I can make code less confusing to me!!
😁
My daughter is loving this game. We just got stuck on the first level where the dad is kidnapped. What's the objective? We reach the end but it doesn't seem possible to make it to the glowing circle before the copter. The copter is not attackable...?
I eventually figured this out by starting a new game. The issue resolved when I used a repeat rune instead of just listing out all the moves. Still, it's a bug that the copter doesn't always disappear when it reaches the end of the level. Unfortunately I haven't been able to reproduce the error on my new save file.
Thanks for letting us know!
Oh, so it getting stuck there is a bug...
I had the same issue! Solving the puzzle with repeat loops or not didn't matter, it was stuck until restarting the app completely. (Did not need to start a New Game!) Maybe something wasn't resetting correctly after the first few attempts while I was initially writing my spell?
I love the game! As someone who teaches coding to kids, I appreciate not only the clarity of the code itself, but the lovely art and story (which is often missing in these type of coding teaching games).
I found one level design "bug" (with potential for more similar ones). Should I just comment that, or is there another communication channel for such things?
Well, back to solving levels :D
I'm so happy to hear that! Happy to hear about level issues. Thank you!
Alright ... SPOILERS AHEAD ... you have been warned!
In this level
you can stop them escaping with the dad, by the following program:
0:
Jump
Left
Cast (1)
1:
Attack
Of course you will not progress with the game this way, but I feel like this is unintended. There is also the way to get in front of him and block the way yourself with:
0:
Jump
Left
Cast (1)
Jump
Left
Jump
Right
Jump 2
Right
Jump
1:
Wait 5
Attack
Wait
Attack
Which uses multiple maybe unintenden strategies. Take a closer look at the execution of this one ;) it makes a double step on the second step of the Jump 2 instruction in 0.
I think it is possible to trap the dad is possible in more levels although I have not tested it. Also as I am writing a lot already here are 2 more thoughts:
1. All programs appart from 0 are saved between levels, which I think is weird.
2. I tried to solve 1 level by using one of the bots I programmed to programm my familiar. This would have been helpful for timing issues (the need to count how much I need to wait in my program would have been eliminated). This might be an interesting mechanic to add, although I am not sure, if it is too complicated for this game (not sure how much the levels will teach/ how hard they get).
All of these are rather small issues. I still hope they are helpful to you :)
Yes, indeed. We've seen this one before and a fix is already in the next build (coming soon!). Thank you so much!
I'm not knowledgeable in much regarding computers, but after the file was downloaded I clicked to launch the .msi file and windows popped up warning that this could affect my computer's performance or just overall be a malicious. I realize windows warns against a lot of safe things, I'm sure this is one of them, I just wanted to double check and make sure that it's completely safe for me to download.
Usually I right-click it and ask Windows Update to scan it. If the scan comes back showing it's safe, I click Advanced > Run Anyway. Sorry wish I could help more! If it makes you feel any better, I ran it on my computer and nothing bad happened. Good on you for being cautious!
Windows automatically flags .msi files no matter where they are from. So, as long as you trust where you got it from and/or run a virus scan on the file, then it is perfectly safe to use. (This applies to any other .msi or .exe file you could encounter)
Codemancer is up for an award, and I'd really appreciate it if you could vote for us! https://t.co/W4GDQe9maf?amp=1. It only takes a few seconds. Thank you!
UPDATE: We Won!
Just starting, so I can't comment on the game itself yet, but I find it jarring that, in the Itch Desktop App, the files are set up in such a way that "installing" the game apparently just downloads it, and you "launch" the installer, not the game itself. That would normally be an annoyance, but in a coding game, it feels a lot more wrong. Maybe someone needs to poke the install package?
Good point! We decided to include an .msi installer instead of an executable because school IT administrators tend to prefer it. Hope you like the game!
Ah, does the Itch desktop app not play nicely with msi? That's too bad.
I liked the game, especially the fact that you don't go straight for teaching literal coding so much as the concepts needed to be a good coder. I'm considerably out of your target demographic, but I pay attention to such games, as well as enjoying them as casual gaming. So, well done!
Thanks so much!
Incredibly cute and I think a very fitting way to learn programming. The start is especially strong with clear directions that slowly build up the players understanding. First couple of chapters have a clear focus on what they're teaching the player but I towards the end it felt a bit scattershot. A bit like I just bruteforced solutions without really using what I've learned before.
But overall, I liked it! Would be interesting to hear how well its worked for kids without a programming background.
Some issues I noticed:
- Can't kill shadowself. Not sure if it's intended but killing the shadow just respawns it back again.
- Scripts in other tabs are keept from previous level. I never had the need to reuse scripts from a previous level.
- Some missing dialogue voice in the second half of the game.
Cool game. I'm 17 and finished it in 3 hours (maybe more?) and:
I think the part where you use an "army" is much more difficult than the "shadowy one" mechanic. So i don't think the game actually escalates in difficulty. Wich, to me, it's not a big deal.
Also, there's a lil 'bug': there's a level where a puppet needs to hit the lever so that 'dad' can go through. But I am able to entrance(?) the puppet so that he does nothing and i catch up to dad and hit im on the but with my face.
I'm no good in talking good about games, so if you want someone to tell you why this is good, go to the other comments
Thanks so much for playing! We're working on that bug :)
Nice game, got it in the bundle and played it until a bit past the sea journey.
I know some programming, so my basic experience was "Yes I *get* it, now can we ramp up the difficulty faster or skip a few levels?", but then again it's aimed at kids, not at me.
I suspect you might need to spell out a few more things for kids, like "you don't lose if you bump into the edge, so a loop where you occasionally try to go too far (or attack thin air) is OK" and "You win as soon as you get to the goal, so it's OK if that happens in the middle of a loop".
IMO, the pause after winning was a bit too long (on a mac); I suggest checking if the code is a win first, and if so, start loading stuff in advance while the code plays out.
Maybe also add a "you win!" splash with a rudimentary grade of "Victory!" (got to the goal), "Fast!" (wrote the code in under five minutes), "Concise!" (few lines), "Precise!" (no unnecessary actions) and "first try!"(no need for debugging) .
On the whole, nice game, nice graphical programming interface, good graphics & sound, might recommend it for parents of younger kids - but for teens and adults who want to know a bit about what programming is like, I'll still direct them to Kongregate's LightBot, and for gamers who want to do programming puzzles, I'll still recommend the Zachtronics games.
The steam page says that it's available in German, French and Spanish as well, however I couldn't find a way to change languages in the Android version. I would love to play this game with my daughter, however, she doesn't speak English (yet)... Are the other languages available on Android?
Edit: Okay, I saw the update at the very top that says that the Mac & PC versions have the translations. So I'll update my question as well: Will they come to Android eventually?
Yes, indeed. The update is coming to mobile soon.
That sounds great!! Really looking forward to playing it with her!
Thank you for being part of the bundle!
This game is absolutely fantastic. I mean, I've been programming since childhood myself, so there was nothing new here in terms of learning for me. But the game is a delight anyway. The art and voice acting are excellent. This is exactly the kind of game I wish had been around when I was younger. I absolutely cannot wait until the next chapter.
Thanks so much!
Found a bug: When I leveled up to "Level 2" the animation showed me now having 4 hearts of health, but in the actual levels I still have only 3.
Thanks. I'll check that out.
Awesome game! I am both a programmer and an educator and recently found this when donating for the racial justice bundle. Your game is so far the best one I've found for childrens.
I'm so glad you like it!
Any chance we could get a Linux version? I mean, after all, it’s a programming game, I imagine that’s a fair amount of your demographic here…
Sorry. The engine we used doesn't target linux executables.
Aww :( okay. Still a cool looking game, I wish I could play it!
Works fine using Wine ! just use msiexec
Been greatly enjoying the game so far, but I've run into a number of bugs. Two of the ones I've run into crop up quite often:
1. Voice lines don't always play properly, and sometimes clicking too early into a scene will screw up the sprite's positioning (as in, clicking to fast forward the text while the sprite is still moving around sometimes makes the sprite stop moving before it reaches the right place and be stuck halfway offscreen.)
2. Fast forward screws up the code. If you have more than two or three things on screen running your own code, the parser will skip steps entirely, meaning that sometimes you can't beat a level if you try to run it in fast forward. This is not consistent, it skips different steps every time, but the more stuff you have running (and the higher fast forward you're at) the worse it gets.
Also worth noting: the "dad capture chase" level in the forest? I broke it. You can cut off the helicopter thing's escape through clever use of the cast rune, I can provide details if you need.
Thanks so much. I'd love to get details about the dad chase. Please send me an email at bobbylox@importantlittlegames.com
Hi there! Love the game! Is there any chance of either a Linux port, or just an upload of the straight windows version? Wine doesn't play well with msi installers unfortunately.
Thanks!
Oh that's interesting. The engine we used doesn't make Linux executables, but I can look into adding an .exe
Awesome, thanks :)
Have you tried msiexec in wine?
i have not, but i certainly will now. thanks for pointing that out :3
this is a great little game - found it in the bundle and it's the first thing in there I decided to play! wish I'd had this when I was 12, it would have taught me a lot better than Basic. Very much looking forward to the next chapter. just wanted to report a couple bugs and offer a bit of feedback.
definitely a bug: I ran into some weird graphics issues on Windows 7, using an nVidia card updated with the brand new driver (I updated earlier tonight). it would occasionally lose or duplicate the star button where you activate commands, and I would have to go out of the level and back in to reset. I also had weird little glitchy graphical remnants show up in one case.
might be a bug or maybe I just missed something: In one of the last few levels, where there's several trees in a vertical line that you have to get a puppet to kill for you, if you program the puppet to attack 4 times and then jump into the spot it just cleared, it sometimes fails to do so. telling it to jump twice reliably gets it to the next square.
possibly intentional?: spells 1-5 don't reset to blanks at the beginning of a new level like spell 0 does.
also, I actually managed to beat the thing carrying my father in one of the last few levels (and then the game acted like he'd been dragged off ahead of me anyway).
feedback:
I think the age range cited is a little low for the difficulty/ramp up speed and complexity, especially with this just being chapter 1! It got challenging by the end for me, and I'm an Xennial who got Logo and a little Basic at around 10-12, and some Java in college. I'm not sure most 6 year olds even have the necessary level of cognitive development to handle running 4 'spells' at once.
I'd personally love a for-older-teens-to-adults version, that just adds a text window explaining how this stuff corresponds to real programming using Python. This is SO much better than having to try to learn from dry books, and getting to see both at once would really help bridge to the real thing.
Same! Haven't played it yet but it was the first thing to catch my eye too!
After I download, Windows 10 says "Codemancer.msi was blocked because it could harm your device"
One way that windows tries to tell dangerous programs apart from safe ones, is it automatically flags anything that hasn't been run by a large number of people as "dangerous". This means that programs by large companies often skate through with no problems, while anything programmed by individuals or small companies get caught in the filter. There should be a way to click through the warning and run it anyway, for situations where you're sure that it's overreacting.
Yeah, click the more info (its a text line that is underlined) bit, it leads to the button run anyway
So I started to really enjoy the game, when I got to the level where a certain flying drone is flying to a certain blue flame, and I got stuck - I get next to it, but then I do not know what to do - attacking doesn't help, jumping on it doesn't work, and there's no hints to what to do there... and it looks practically impossible to get to the blue flame before the drone...
It is impossible. Go ahead and allow yourself to fail.
Can't seem to fail either - after all the programmed steps are done, the stage just resets. Does the level supposed to end when the drone reaches the blue light? Because it doesn't; it just stands there forever.
yes. This is a bug. As a workaround while we try to fix it -- Can you back up a few levels (from the map)?
I ran into the same issue in what I think is still the tutorial? When the drone captures a certain someone, I get to the blue flame and the level starts over.
We ran into the same issue, and my son is frustrated. Will it work if you go back a couple levels and play through again?
It ought to, yes.
Help needed - I can't find how to open the game?
I downloaded the msi file and installed it, but can't find any way to open the actual game from the installer - what am I supposed to do to get into the actual game? Do I need another app or something?
If you're on Windows, double-clicking the .msi should open an installer.
got it - had to search in the toolbar too find the app, not just the installer
Gameplay feedback-
I am Red-Green color defficient. I've played about 10 mins so far, and I was wondering how much health the little bug guys had, cause I didn't see their health indicated anywhere. So I looked a bit harder, and noticed that they DO have a health indicator, right below them! I just couldn't see them easily because it's red on green.
It's a fun game so far, but it would be cool to have a colorblind alternate for important UI features, or just more clear contrast.
Thanks so much! I'll look into recoloring those.
Another bug report for you.
This one is present on the Windows version and the Android version.
At this point we would expect to hear a "He's gone!" voice line, but instead we hear the "Teaching magic?" voice line again.
Thanks so much! I've been looking for that one!
Loving the game and how it is presented!
I'm playing the Android version and I think I've run into a bug.
I'm at level 1 of the forest area
Completing this vertical level takes me on to this triangular level:
But completing the triangular level takes me back to the vertical level again.
Edit: Oh, my mistake. It's not the same level, just a very similar looking level. Didn't notice the difference on my little phone screen.
Whew...
Been playing for 15 minutes, my brain hurts, I hope I can get a little smarter. Cool game, kudos to the creators.
Thanks so much :)
Nice artwork, great gameplay, now we can learn and play at the same time, a game for everybody especially the young ones.
Thank you so much!