Hello Hacker News. I'm Alex the lead developer of Code Hero and here is my response to this news story, updated as I continue to answer the specific questions people have:
Code Hero development continues. We released the first alpha build of the game after PAX and we're releasing alpha 2 soon to show you the latest progress.
UPDATE: We reached Dustin Deckard by email. He said he wants the game to succeed and that his position is being misinterpreted in some media reports. He's not suing us, he's just trying to get answers about the project's progress as we hadn't replied to his email before. We're answering journalist and backer questions since posting the first response and posting them here. Our ongoing updates will be posted below as we answer people's questions as transparently and quickly as possible to make sure people are clear that the game development continues and we're going to communicate everything about its progress from now on.
UPDATE: We're on a Google Hangout you can join if you want to ask us whatever you'd like. Some journalists have questions and a lot of our friends and supporters who believe in us have reached out and asked how they can help.
We are committed to finishing this game and although progress has slowed down and the release is taking longer than we planned, we remain dedicated to working on the project and will continue to do so because we believe in this game and we believe in making programming fun to learn.
We are testing a second alpha release of the game to release soon so you can see what we've added since the first alpha. We exhibited our first alpha release at PAX and you can download it here.
Some of our Kickstarter backers are frustrated with the lack of updates on progress, and Code Hero lead developer Alex Peake would like to make a personal apology:
Hello backer. I owe you a thanks for your support and an apology for our lack of updates on all the progress we've made with your help. I started the Code Hero project to make a game that teaches people how to make games and you backed us to help make that happen. We are going to finish this game for you and everybody else in the world who wants to learn how to code.
I believe in this mission and I'm grateful that you and so many others have believed in Code Hero too and supported us to work on this project. I worked on the idea to make a prototype for a year before asking for your help on Kickstarter, I built a team to work on it for a year since, and we are committed to finishing this game and continuing to add to it so you can make games of your own.
Game development is hard and many studios and projects fail, but I can't let you down because what we're making is important. It's important to me personally to give all the people in the world a way to learn to code that is actually fun. I won't let any obstacles stop the Code Hero team from completing this. It's my life purpose to make this game because I want to see you make games of your own. Software development is hard work and we're behind schedule and solving technical challenges to add player level creation much harder than the already huge creative challenge we set ourselves to begin with. But every big project faces big challenges and we're going to figure ours out and get the game out and keep updating it and expanding it to make it grow to keep challenging the skills of our players as they learn more and more game coding skills.
Many of you may not have tried the latest alpha we showed and released at PAX. I encourage you to download it and try it and see how much we've accomplished so far. The first alpha shows a world called Gamebridge Unityversity and your first mentor Ada Lovelace who guides you through the tour of the game. First you visit the Arcade you can play and post player-created games built with the world editing tools, but first you visit the Labyrinth where you learn how to edit the game's variables to beat it. Next you visit the Library where you can learn about Unityscript programming. Then you visit the Real Artist Shipyard where you're introduced to the Scenebox world editor to make and ship your first level. The tour is designed to take the player from playing an adventure game to making their own right from the outset. It isn't complete yet, but it shows what we built and we're hard at work expanding on that first release to get the new functions fully working and the new training levels fleshed out.
We're testing a new second alpha release tomorrow to show what we've added since then and we're working towards a third more feature complete alpha that will be ready for general use as a complete learning tool.
I know the level of frustration some people have is high right now and that it is my fault for not communicating about our ongoing progress, but I want to reassure everyone who has backed us not to panic: Code Hero is not dead and we will not let our supporters and Kickstarter backers down. All our backer rewards will be delievered along with the game. It is taking longer than we hoped, but the game is becoming awesomer than we planned too. I'll post a more detailed update soon with the new alpha build and answer any questions and concerns people may have.
If you'd like to reach me, my email is [email protected] and I'm on Google Hangouts and skype username "empowerment" and I will answer your all your questions or concerns.
The open alpha is desktop Mac/Win/Linux only for now as we use dynamic compilation tricks not available in the mobile build targets till we do workarounds or modify Unity's source code. We're going to release the beta on Steam.
We need coders with C# and Unityscript skills sufficient for turning the Unity runtime into an MMO IDE. We're at 4 coders right now plus 3 volunteers.
I'm as much interested in having the community highlight Unity game programmers for other Unity game developers with similar hiring needs as I am for our own.
Today DEVELOP magazine's front page stories were: ZYNGA falls 18%, Unity CEO Backs Kickstarter of Code Hero a game that teaches game development with a code gun, and Tim Schafer raises $2 million on Kickstarter.
Well I am the founder of Code Hero in the picture, Alex Peake, and our Kickstarter has blown up today hitting BoingBoing, TechCrunch, ThinkGeek and more blogs than I know what to do with.
We've surged since Tim Schafer raised his million in a single day, mostly because it lit a fire under us to push push push every way we didn't know we knew how. Every game dev is talking about the rise of Kickstarter and I wonder how much this could bleed into startups.
We want to prove that a totally unknown indie can pull off a proportionate success to that of a legend like Tim. We're going to hit $100k thanks to our allies who've put aces up our sleeve for the media to roll out every day for the next 7 days. We're grateful if you can help spread the word or have ideas.
I've had twitter storms with projects like http://www.tacticalcorsets.com but this is different: backers are playing it and learning computer programming. It's having an impact.
Schools installed it in classes. People used it as ob interview challenges. We're working on a JobBoss to make this a service.
I was inspired to make Code Hero by YC and PG. I applied in the spring, interviewed, didn't get in. The sleep-when-you-die drive it magnified only got stronger.
Compared to what we're building now with our new team, the current buggy beta is more of a tech demo, but I would love to know what you all think of it.
I live in a Noisebridge hackerspace-adjacent hacker house full of team members and cofounders of mine and from other startups YC and otherwise.
We're compared to Code Academy, which is similar to a feature we were close to releasing at the same time. I was bothered at first by a competitor. I liked their design. But it was crystal clear: Code Hero is not just a web app. We do something that has never been done before for a gamer audience that is 98% of young people. Code Hero turns gamers into coders. Games started 86% of my hacker friends on the coding path. Our metric is programmerization.
Code is the new literacy. We work on the same team promoting that. Anybody who encourages code and science literacy is an ally. Code Hero has a built-in web browser for WYSIWYG editing and API referencing that could feature web-based educational tools in an upcoming version.
I'd love to hear from Code Academy's founders and others in this space who want to talk about our shared cause and the many possible approaches to it.
Most of all I'd like to hear from you what you think of Code Hero as a game. We're aware of 0.192's flaws given that it is still just a prototype compared to what the team is building next, but you can play it and see from our plans on the Kickstarter where we're going with this: Portal-style puzzle learning, Minecraft-style sandbox creativity and Code Hero-style things that have never been done before.
What kind of action can we take? Your point is powerful and your solution is revolutionary so I immediately want to be signed up for knowing more or helping somehow. If those graphs were set to music as the video for a kickstarter, I would donate.
That is some good infoporn right there to graph and prove the point: With LSE, we could solve the energy storage and distribution problems from green energy. Beautiful and reminds me of the best style of WIRED.