Turbine Truck is a small iPad game made up of very basic mechanics. Players guide a cartoon truck across a 2D plane, smashing into as many oncoming cars as possible while evading the police. It lacks complexity and isn’t necessarily a grueling test of skill, but Turbine Truck remains notable for one reason: it was created by a child using Hopscotch, an iOS app with its own visual programming language used to teach kids the basics of coding and programming.
Heavily influenced by the browser-based language Scratch, Hopscotch uses a drag-and-drop interface that allows children to put blocks together in order to issue commands to different items in their projects. It’s a system that does away with the fears of syntax errors and typos inherent in other programming languages, guaranteeing a certain level of stability that will help children focus on internalizing the basics.
Hopscotch programmer Jason Brennan describes the app as a toy that can be used to create other toys. “Hopscotch is kind of this little world that’s sketchy at the start,” he says, “but basically, you have characters and get to control them and teach them what to do. That was the metaphor we went with, and I think it’s a really powerful one because kids kind of like that it’s a dollhouse, it’s Lego, and it’s a way that you get to tell the story.”
The app provides children with a handful of characters at the start, with whom they have the opportunity to issue commands such as animating a character when the iPad is shaken or making a character breakdance when the screen is tapped. Different functions allow for more complex and unique creations, although the basics at the start provide an intuitive tutorial using the iPad’s touchscreen.
Created by Hopscotch Technologies co-founders Samantha John and Jocelyn Leavitt, Hopscotch was initially inspired by the lack of women in engineering and a desire to expose children – especially girls – to programming at a young age, in the hope that it would encourage them to pursue it later on in life.
While a special emphasis has been placed on making Hopscotch appealing to girls, great care has been taken to ensure that it is unisex and approachable to all in its design. It’s an app that encourages empowerment through creativity and gives children a chance to interact with a new artform.
“Being empowered with computers is an essential thing that hasn’t really happened yet, and Hopscotch is our way of helping that,” Brennan explains. “We’re helping empower kids with computers and iPads to create in a new way. This is the toy that I wanted when I was a kid. I wanted to make my own video games, and now we give kids the power to do that. But we also give them a way of explaining themselves in ways they couldn’t with pen and paper or drawings.”
Naturally, creating an application targeted at eight to twelve-year-old children brought with it its own set of design challenges. The team had to compensate for a child’s more limited motor skills, making sure the drag-and-drop interface was user friendly and that the text met a basic level of reading comprehension. Furthermore, it was necessary to disguise the often-complex nature of programming in an endearing fashion using a bright color palette and cartoonish design.
The app has largely been received positively, garnering praise from developers, parents, classroom teachers and critics alike. Brennan recalls being at a meet and greet during the Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference and being recognized as part of the Hopscotch team. “People came to us and were like ‘are you Hopscotch? I love your app!” he recalls. “It’s wonderful. It’s flattering and humbling at the same time.”
It’s the feedback he gets from children, however, that Brennan finds the most rewarding. “The really cool thing for me is when I hear about parents that have two children and they say ‘my seven-year-old daughter made a game for my four-year-old son to play on Hopscotch.’ So, these kids are making their own toys in Hopscotch, which blows my mind.”
Since the launch of version 2.0 in autumn 2013, the community surrounding Hopscotch has grown significantly. Through the app, children can upload and share their projects with others, allowing for users to interact and enjoy each other’s work.
While the Hopscotch team has project plans for the future, it’s continuing to foster this community and improve the app that remains their main focus. “We’re hoping to be the Lego of the future,” Brennan explains. “This is what I wanted as a kid – I wanted digital Lego, and this is what I’m making now. That’s a really good feeling, and it’s just cool to be able to put that in the hands of kids and adults that get to use it, too.”
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