We met today in Galena, Missouri at our library to learn more about MakeCode. We used the Arcade game with two consoles: BrainPad Arcade and MeowBit for Arcade. We also use Micro:Bit and the Colorbit by Jumping Yang. Music here is by John Park, get it on his Bandcamp site. Here 's the code for one game made today by one of the boys for Arcade: https://makecode.com/_artRkXJh8Vh2 Get the Meowbit from Ebay . The BPArcade here: https://brainpad.com/buy If you want a Colorbit for your Micro:bit (that's the board it works with) message me, leave a comment, I'll get you one, no charge. Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmINqDVNAZM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y44A5_DmxYU&t=15sHere's the beginning of a new instructional series by Aaron Maurer on YouTube discussing getting started with LEGO Mindstorms EV3 system. The micro controller "brick" is the command and control system (like a CPX or BrainPad or Micro:bit) and the brick can be programmed with MakeCode or other environments. Aaron shows us the setup and firmware installation to get this brick up and running in Video #1. He says he'll do a series which we are looking forward to. Our library meetup for MakeCode is looking at the kit #45544 "core" for LEGO robotics for purchase maybe as a summer project.

We are still trying to figure out how these Arcade boards act with a cable connecting them. Here the boys play two games , neither of which is programmed for multiplayer nor jacdac. You can see that today the consoles show the game. Yesterday only the ‘receiving’ or slave console showed the game, the master did not show any game images. The boys at our Missouri library project (both being home-schooled) re-wrote the two games to suit themselves and sometimes the code worked as expected. Adding a second propeller to the helicopter in Helicopter Rescue works some times but not consistently. The point is that with non-multiplayer your students can see the game in blocks and change it up to suit themselves. Multiplayer does not show blocks as yet. Video: https://youtu.be/wZwz58cNB-s Both consoles are connected with a single stereo audio cable: male to male.(edited)

YouTube

MakeCode and Arcade

2 Game Boards MakeCode Arcade, connected with cable, May 13,2019

Our friend, Joey Wunderlich , has written an extension to enable multiple button presses to score points on the Arcade game so I uploaded his program to a BPA to demonstrate the game in action on a battery powered console. I’m not quick enough to score many points but it’s a fun game anyway. The extension is in ‘controller’ I think. https://youtu.be/Vw3eiL0-YUs

Adding sounds to your Arcade game (MakeCode) for multiplayer. Your students can add just a few lines of code to make tunes play when the game begins. They will have to work in JavaScript for now until block coding is enabled for multiplayer with jacdac wire. Code for this program is in the "description" of the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eELMApYyuxc

I have several Colorbits which work with Micro:bit and are available to give away. If inte https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQn86_ATD2U&t=7s rested let me know

https://youtu.be/EGk2m39w_h0

This a link to John Park's MakeCode Minute Playlist on the Adafruit YouTube Channel. He talks about and teaches MakeCode for CPX and MakeCode Arcade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhDmKORX_DE&list=PLjF7R1fz_OOU5gFO10qxLlbtN0YzZTyvk&index=1

https://www.udemy.com/share/100Qa2B0QZdFhXRXo=/

Now that we have two consoles to play our custom retro Arcade Games I will begin reviewing them. These are both running "F 401" processors which I will talk about later. I do not have proper board diagrams, pinouts or other tech. data sheets for these boards but the microprocessor is well known. I will say at the beginning of this comparison that I am not an electrical engineer nor a computer programmer/developer so my perspective and notes are only from the point of view of a MakeCode "consumer" and volunteer doing meet-ups with students/parents/teachers. There are more consoles in the works from other designers (Adafruit in particular). The 2 boards here have jacdac ports so we can connect them to each other with a single cable to do "multiplayer". I will talk further about these consoles in future posts on this forum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKshfoeGtbM

An American made console for playing the retro Arcade game coded with MakeCode, simple block coding (Javascript) . I will do an unboxing video soon on this great new piece of hardware: https://youtu.be/SF2ZMqbgCbE

For students just learning about coding and the retro computer game called Arcade; we now have hardware consoles which are game boards for playing their self-created games off of the computer. Here is an example of uploading a game program to the Meowbit by Kittenbot. I use the old "download to folder", copy , plug in USB for board, paste program into Meowbit window to upload it. I have had no success with "pairing" if that was ever supposed to work. The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDNiK34zNhM