Coding is in everything we use on a daily basis, from our phones to our computers, video games, and even a coffee maker or two. It’s unavoidable and is an incredibly useful skill to master.
All video games require some kind of coding on the back end that you’ll likely never see. A developer will occasionally release the source code for their game, but that’s just about the only time we’ll see it.
On the other hand, some video games have a veneer of just being a fun time-waster when they’re truly giving you your first introduction to coding. Here are seven games that can teach you the basics of how to code.
Baba is You
Baba is You is one of the best puzzle games of 2019 and is a fantastic tool for teaching how to use logic and variables in coding. Each word is assigned an object or action that determines the properties of the levels.
You can push the object and property words around to change what actions the objects can perform. Even your playable character can be changed if you move an object word to the beginning of “is YOU” (e.g. DOOR is YOU).
A statement that reads “ROCK is PUSH” is pretty simple to understand, but sliding the word WIN into the spot of PUSH is a simple but effective way to show how changing variables can impact code.
The puzzles get much more difficult than that, but you can always view all of the current rules by pausing the game to get what is essentially an algorithm for the level.
