The new Nintendo video game must be admitted that it has surprised us and for the better. Is called Game builder garage and it will allow the little ones to learn basic programming concepts by providing them with a series of tools with which they can create their own video games in a very visual way. So not only does it look very fun, it also looks very educational and that's important.
Game Builder Garage and the Nodons
The educational sector has spent some years betting on what they consider (and they are right thinking so) to be the language of the future: coding. And it's true, learning programming is already very important for everyone and especially for the little ones. Because it will not only provide them with knowledge so that they can create their own applications or video games, that is something secondary to all of this, it will also provide them with logical thinking that will help them solve a multitude of problems.
Well, with that same underlying idea, Nintendo launched a new video game whose purpose is all this: to bring computational thinking, programming and the creation of video games closer to the little ones. The name of this new title that will soon be available for Nintendo Switch in Game Builder Garage.
Game Builder Garage is a very interesting proposal that makes use of a visual programming system which will be reminiscent of other block programming languages. Here those blocks are called Nodon and there are a wide variety of them, each with its own set action.
So, for example, you will have basic nodes that will serve to represent the character, graphic elements within the game, actions such as running, jumping or moving and many other things that will allow you to create games of all kinds. Therefore, as they indicate, the user's own imagination is the only thing that will limit the game.
Of course, at first it is likely that you do not know very well everything that could be done and that is why the game itself will include a series of lessons with which to help you learn how this way of programming works. For example, it will explain the bases to create a character and add the different Nodons that will allow you to give it the ability to move left and right, jump, etc.
All that creation will always be very visual and to be able to interact with it there will be different control methods. On the one hand there will be the possibility of using the physical controls of the Nintendo Switch, on the other the touch screen and finally a USB mouse connected to the Dock when it is being used in TV mode.
If you like it, take a look at the video published by Nintendo and you will see everything we have told you. Surely as soon as you finish the video, which lasts barely two minutes, you want to create your first video game.
A video game to learn and share
Nintendo's commitment to offering new experiences is not something that takes us by surprise today. The company in the past has already launched some initiatives as interesting as Labo (those cardboard sets that allowed the construction of different ones with objects with which to later interact) or Super Mario Maker itself that gives players the option to create their own levels.
Now with Game Builder Garage for Nintendo Switch they are offering something similar, but in the long run it can be even more interesting. Well, through the game they are laying the foundations of something as important as programming. And the best thing is that they have correctly introduced the possibility of sharing the creations.
Thanks to a series of codes that can be generated, Game Builder Garage players will be able to share your creations and download those of others users. So, in the style of Roblox and other similar proposals, you will not only be able to play what you create, but also what other users can play, thus obtaining even more inspiration from what you can do with a tool of this type.
Game Builder Garage, when will it be available?
The new game to learn to program and create your own Nintendo Switch games will be available from June 11. The price of the title will be $29,99 and will support different languages, including Spanish.
Who knows if soon Game Builder Garage is another of those products that together with the Sphero, LEGO Mindstorm and the like give shape to the tools used in STEM education.