{"id":19426,"date":"2019-09-20T00:01:13","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T00:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=19426"},"modified":"2019-09-20T16:35:27","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T16:35:27","slug":"while-true-learn-mobile-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/20\/while-true-learn-mobile-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"While True: Learn () (Mobile, PC)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I never pass up the chance to review educational games.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always had an interest in them, and it baffles me why some companies shy away from calling their games educational.\u00a0 I\u2019ve reviewed everything from games that introduce preschoolers to early concepts as well as ones that teach math skills to elementary school students.\u00a0 But it\u2019s clear the way of the future is with computers, and if you want a way to make it big, it\u2019s important to get a head start in programming and coding.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why I\u2019m pleased to see a game like While True: Learn ().\u00a0 Yes that\u2019s the title.\u00a0 It teaches logic skills used in programming and coding in a visual way.\u00a0 It\u2019s available on mobile devices and PC, but reviewed on iPad here.<\/p>\n

There is a story to this game.\u00a0 One night a programmer is stumped on some errors in his code, and takes a short break away from the computer.\u00a0 When he comes back, he sees that his cat has somehow fixed the errors in his code!\u00a0 So now the coder decides to make a program that will recognize and translate the cat\u2019s speech, so he can understand what the cat did to fix his program.<\/p>\n

So in the game, you are at your desk and receive emails.\u00a0 Each one is a little mission puzzle for you to solve.\u00a0 The puzzles involve nodes, which are boxes that you can assign to do various things.\u00a0 Mostly just sorting colors and shapes.\u00a0 You must drag and drop these nodes and connect them to other nodes via lines to reach an outcome, like having a certain amount of colors or shapes at the end.\u00a0 You can earn medals based on how few nodes you use to make the program more efficient.\u00a0 In this way, you can also earn more money which you can use to buy decorations for your desk and outfits for your cat.\u00a0 Just make sure to have enough money for the server fees!\u00a0 There are side missions to earn extra money and give you more challenges, too.<\/p>\n

I had two main problems with the game, though.\u00a0 One, I found it extremely difficult.\u00a0 But I think that could just be me.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think my brain is wired to understand programming very well.\u00a0 I\u2019ve tried dabbling in it in the past a few times.\u00a0 As a kid, I bought a book on BASIC programming and found it to be very boring.\u00a0 Many years later I took a computer math class in high school and barely passed it, so yeah, I don\u2019t think I\u2019m cut out for that stuff.\u00a0 I\u2019d rather play games, not make them.\u00a0 So I had a hard time wrapping my head around this game, too.<\/p>\n

I really wish there was some kind of hint feature (if there is, I couldn\u2019t find it), and because of this, I didn\u2019t feel like I really learned anything, other than I should stay away from programming, which isn\u2019t a good message to send in a game.\u00a0 I wish they would give out hints or solutions in the game if you get stuck.\u00a0 Also, I think you\u2019d have to be very good at applying what you\u2019ve learned to be able to carry over the skills in this game to actual programming.\u00a0 At least that\u2019s how it felt to me.\u00a0 Me, personally, I still think one of the best educational games that teach programming concepts is the old Nintendo DS title WarioWare D.I.Y.<\/strong><\/a>, as it teaches how \u2018if, then\u2019 statements work and what they do in the game.<\/p>\n

The other main problem I had with the game is that the text is way too small.\u00a0 I had to put on my reading glasses to see the text in the game, and I was using my iPad with a big screen.\u00a0 I don\u2019t usually have to do that!\u00a0 I think it\u2019s because the game was originally on PC, and probably works better in that format.\u00a0 But even though I did have some problems with the game, I\u2019d still recommend this to teachers or anyone who has an interest in learning programming and coding skills, as it\u2019s only a few bucks to buy and download.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kid Factor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nothing violent or objectionable here.\u00a0 Although the game is best for older kids because of the high level of reading and logic skills needed.\u00a0 I have a brother who is learning programming in school, and I\u2019m going to tell him about this game and see if he\u2019s interested. I\u2019m also going to give him the first edition of the Classic Game Design book I reviewed a while back<\/strong><\/a> for his birthday, but don\u2019t tell him I said that!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I never pass up the chance to review educational games.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always had an interest in them, and it baffles me why some companies shy away from calling their games educational.\u00a0 I\u2019ve reviewed everything from games that introduce preschoolers to early concepts as well as ones that teach math skills to elementary school students.\u00a0 But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19426"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19441,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19426\/revisions\/19441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}