Treffer: Development of creative applications with assets of a video game

Students enrolled in the course of Arts and Multimedia usually have difficulties and show some resistance in learning to write lines of code. This document presents a contribution to the learning of these lines of code through an orientation based on the development of creative applications with nuances of a videogame Computers are part of a student's life, most of whom have experience using computers to play games, use search engines, participate in social networks, use applications such as word processors, or to establish synchronous communications with others people. It is also found that young people read and write to new media installed on web sites (Peppler, 2010). Videogames are one of the topics that have received more attention from educators, since they are particularly active elements to call and captivate students for long periods of time. There are several references on the use of commercial video games or simulators in the classroom since the introduction of ICT in the educational context, but the interest of this document is to reflect on the development of applications with nuances of video games in the classroom. These applications are built through a library of the Java programming language named Processing. The use of Processing makes it easier for its users to learn and use these lines of code, for example the result of the use of structures or cycles can be visualized immediately through their application in objects previously "drawn" or with external objects such as photo files or videos. The programming concepts that are taught are introductory, but they allow students to gain the necessary knowledge about procedural programming. It is possible to verify and conclude that: during the semester they are able to develop interesting applications and with the worries related to the design of video games; not all students are committed to continuing or deepening knowledge in this area, but there have been cases of those seeking masters or other informal courses that allow them to deepen ...