Kodu Game Lab Review

Author:
John Lomaga
Published: July 12, 2009Posted in: Sub Featured, Xbox 360 ReviewsTags: , , ,

I have recently purchased the Kodu Game Lab that has been underdevelopment from programmers in Microsoft. Their ultimate goal was to create a very basic learning experience to game programming and design, while also letting the users create a worthwhile game.

To the goal they set they achieved it very easily. In moments I was able to start building my map with over 100 ground textures. Allowing you to raise and lower the ground levels,add water,fences,roads,etc. Basically leaving whatever type of game you want to make completely up to you. They even get you as much choice as to choose the day background and the lighting for it which will alter the way lighting will be perceived to everything you create.

For the sake of the review I will go through what my first project was. I decided to make a 4 player multiplayer game which involved a simple 2v2 dodgeball remake. I first created a red rectangled ground (basically with a paint brush) and then striped it with a white line seperating both sides. After I built 4 posts and boxed the whole area in (using the d-pad allowed me to cycle through various fence designs). My arena was built very simply but effective. I then had to choose what type of bots I was going to let the users control there are +10 different robots you can choose from both with various strengths and weaknesses. I chose the basic Kodu  and placed 2 on each side of the line. I set one team as white and the other black.

KoduProgram
Now it was time for the programming which involved basic thinking. If you have any experience with logic or BASIC programming you will understand it completely.
A good example is:
1.GAMEPAD(controller)
2.LEFT THUMBSTICK(choose what button on gamepad you want to program)
3.MOVE(choose the function of left thumbstick)

This will allow you to move as in any other game with that simple programming you can then choose to make him move slower or faster on that line of code.

For my dodgeball game though I made the controls as follows:
Right Trigger-Fire Missile
Left Trigger-Grab
A Button-Jump (hit twice to double jump)
B Button-Kick/Launch (if holding an object)

I was initially trying to make it where the players would have to grab either apples/discs with LT then fire them with RT but Kodu’s would throw them like 5 year old girls and had terrible accuracy. I figured out later that I could turn them into Tom Brady but I didn’t feel like switching it at that point. So I had the programming set up for all the Kodu’s perfectly now and all I had to do was set all the controller commands for each controller seperately. Which was as easy as going into each of their programming and choosing PLAYER 1/2/3/4 for each command on each seperate Kodu.

Now that my Kodu’s were ready for battle I had to lay down the game rules. This was trickier because you can not just go to a menu like in Halo 3 Forge mode and set the rules. Instead I set up BALLOON robots which looked like GLADys from Portal and they acted as referees. I had to set up a chain of logical commands that made it where if the BALLOONS didn’t see any black Kodu’s the white team wins and vice versa.

So after that I added some clouds in the skies above and placed lights in the corners and made it look like a legit little mini game. In all around 2-3hours of testing and programming. It was great and I have some other ideas for games that I have to play around with still.

The only flaw though with all of this in the end though is the sharing. It only allows 4 player multiplayer games and they can only be LOCAL meaning you can share the game but can not play it online with friends no matter how simple it is. Then to the actual sharing you can only share the game with people on your friends list so a lot of good games may only be seen by a low number of people rather than the Xbox Live community.

I was hoping to run it like LittleBigPlanet content but apparently that is out of the question. There has been talk that there is a chance the developers can update it later but until then you will be stuck sharing with friends only and not being able to test it with them.

If this gets an update though this could spawn some great games. Allowing you to make FPS,Racers,etc. In just this $5 program you can create a basic idea for a blockbuster game you may want to make later in your life. I recommend this game to anyone who may ever want to get in game design and compliment the developers on a revolutionary idea for teaching programming.

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