hyperpad

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Ambassador Spotlight

Hey everyone! Last week we asked our ambassadors, RXCodes and Hakan, a few questions about them and hyperPad. In this article they talk about topics such as their introduction to hyperPad, their favourite features, and a piece of advice to new users!

How did you find hyperPad? What was your first introduction to it like?

RXCodes: When I was very young, I had a passion to make my own games and apps, but all I had was an iPad. I searched in the App Store, eager to learn how I could make my own games, and I came across hyperPad. It was like a dream come true! For 10-year-old me, it was quite impressive how long my attention span was when it came to using hyperPad -- it was a brand new and fun experience every time I started a new project.

Hakan: It has been quite a long time, but as far as I remember I discovered hyperPad on an App Store search. I was looking for some way to make a game and I saw that hyperPad was mentioning making real games and publishing them on the App Store. Starting from the first day it didn't look very confusing to me and I began to discover features very quickly as I worked on it each day.

How would you describe your journey with hyperPad in one sentence?

RXCodes: hyperPad was an awesome guide who stayed with me for throughout all my learning experiences.

Hakan: After working with it for a while, developing games with hyperPad has become kind of an addiction for me.

If you were to describe hyperPad in one word, what would it be?

RXCodes: "Innovative." I have never seen any other app that can give mobile users such powers.

Hakan: Simple.

What is your favourite project made with hyperPad?

RXCodes: My favourite project was always the latest one that I finished. It keeps getting better every time! As I am writing this, my favourite project is called "Bob's Speedy Adventure," the same project used to host a competitive community challenge for hyperPad.

Hakan: My favourite project is the last one I released on the App Store “Red ball - The lost island”. Both the visuals and story themes make this game my favourite one.

What is your favourite feature?

RXCodes: There are so many awesome features jam-packed in hyperPad. My personal favourite has to be the multiplayer features! You can have so much fun with it if utilized correctly!

Hakan: Physics. Since my childhood, I had a special interest in physics games and I like it most if I am working on physics in a project. HyperPad does a great job on physics behaviours!

What is the one piece of advice you would give to new users?

RXCodes: Don't be intimidated. Having mistakes is something, but having fewer mistakes is progress! If you don't succeed, keep trying!

Hakan: Their very first project will probably not hit the top charts around the world. As they make more new projects they will increase the possibility of realizing their dreams. But if they give up quickly the possibility will be zero. So I advise them to be patient and work hard.

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hyperPad for Students

With hyperPad version 1.19 we’ve introduced a new Student tier. This student tier is geared towards classrooms, schools, and to those who just want to experiment with the Developer tier features without any plans to monetize. The Student tier replaces the old hyperPad education service. After receiving a lot of feedback from teachers and schools we came up with this more affordable solution. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars per month for a class, you are only charged $15 (USD) per student as a one time fee. You can purchase this as an In-App-Purchase which is immediately applied to each student account. We’re also offering a 30% discount for classes (or schools) with 30+ students who need to do a bulk purchase (contact us first!)

A major change from the old education service, is that schools no longer get their own private hub/community! This is now a separate optional service (contact us for pricing). Your students now share the hub with the rest of the hyperPad community.

Also, all structured classes are required to purchase a student license for each student, and accounts may not be shared/reused. Breaking this rule can result in account suspensions or school suspensions!

Last but not least: You don’t need to be a student! That’s right. You can experience almost all “Developer” tier features for only $15! How ever there are some limitations. 

Here are the key differences between Student and Developer Tiers:

 Students do not have access to monetization features. This means no access to Google Admob.

Students can not export to the App Store.

Students only get 1GB of cloud back up storage compared to 10GB for Developer users.

Students do not get custom avatars or profile banners

Students do not get custom project banners for the hub

All student projects submitted to the hub are subject to community review before being added to the main hub. Failing to get enough community votes the projects will automatically be removed

Students can not take part in the community review.

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Update 1.19 Now Available!

Our latest 1.19 version is finally released! As usually this free update brings amazing new features and bug fixes.

We’ve introduced a new student tier. We’ll be posting a separate article which goes over what that means and the changes. But you can learn some details from our education page at www.hyperpad.com/education We’re also going to be rolling out some changes on how the hub works. The goal of the changes is to put control in the hand of the community, so you can choose shat belongs in the hub and what doesn’t This isn’t live just yet but will be in the next few weeks. We’ll have more details soon, keep an eye out for a post relating to the changes.

What's New:

 New Broadcast/Receive message behaviors. These are now key/value based so you can use a single receive message behavior to handle multiple broadcasts, additionally dynamically send and receive messages between objects

Transform behaviors now have the option of using a speed rather than a duration. This makes it easier to chain multiple movements and keep objects in sync.

New interactive users to help new users learn the basics of hyperPad.

Objects are now preselected in behavior object selection screen

New "Student" tier. Students get access to Developer tier features (minus exporting) for a one time purchase.

"Indie" Tier has been renamed to "Enthusiast"

What's Fixed:

Fixed "Connection Error" when signing up for a new account within the app

Fixed bug where you can still delete/duplicate behaviour when selecting an object

Fixed bug where destroying spawned objects would eventually cause project to slow down

Fixed Ads not pausing music

Joystick Controlled behavior can now be disabled

Behaviors with slide out input fields now update immediately

Move to point now show relative positions (%)

Fixed bug where duplicated behaviors do not get positioned properly

Fixed crash when getting a value from an array

Fixed crash when setting an array to a blank value

Fixed bug when play animation would not trigger an event in specific situations

Removed unused slider for play animation behavior

Added missing animation properties to tilt control

Fixed log outs on weak wifi signal

Fixed log outs when iPad is offline

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Q&A with Donni Hakanson

We all have moments where we'd like to break out of our comfort zone and try out new projects, or revamp how we do old ones. But this isn't always a straightforward task. We can get stuck in old routines and ways of thinking, making flexible, intuitive tools a huge asset—tools that you learn with and continue to use as your skill-set grows, like, well, hyperPad.

We talked with Donni Hakanson—an Australian graphic designer—about how she expanded into apps and interactive books using hyperPad. Be sure to check out her newest app—Easter Hunt—now available on the App Store!

Q: How did you hear about hyperPad?

A: I heard about hyperPad through the local newspaper, here in Townsville, Australia! A young boy had created an app for autism awareness. I was researching how to create my own app after getting quotes from app companies that were scary expensive!

Q: Had you ever made an interactive book before, and did you have any coding experience prior to hyperPad?

A: I am a graphic designer and I did have some experience with Flash, as well as coding. This was my first interactive book!

Q: What inspired you to make your interactive book, and why did you decide to go with hyperPad when making it?

A: I have had the idea of an app for creating treasure hunts for some time. After losing my son last year, the idea of making great family memories had greater importance for me. The idea is that the interactive book is a map or game plan for running your own Easter Hunt with kids. With Easter around the corner, I decided to ‘go hard’ and just ‘do it’! hyperPad was the perfect solution for me because it gave me the tools to get this done and release it in an easily accessible way for others.

Q: How long did the entire process take?

A: I think I knocked it out in a couple of weeks due to time frames! The artwork is very simple, which helped. Simple artwork also suited the genre, luckily.

Q: What was your biggest achievement you had during its development, and what was the biggest challenge you faced?

A: My biggest achievement was getting it done and on the app store! The biggest challenge was XCode. The tutorials are awesome, but I still struggled. Hamed was just amazing with Skype support – I think we easily spent a few hours nutting out my issues!

Q: What advice would you give to people out there, who want to make a game or interactive book, but don’t know where to start?

A: To complete a project like this, I think you need to have a big ‘why’ – I want to add value to the world, make a difference and creating family memories is a part of that. The why gets you through the technical challenges! Also, expect a learning curve, as well as frustration that is inevitable in learning anything new, make use of the wonderful community on the forum, and really take advantage of the tutorials on the site.

Q: Would you recommend hyperPad to people who want to start learning the fundamentals of computer programming?

A: Absolutely! Again, the tutorials and forum make the biggest difference!

Q: What’s your favorite part about hyperPad?

A: I have a lot of fun putting the actions onto objects! Love the integration with dropbox and being able to play and interact with the game as you build it. My biggest praise would be for support. It goes above and beyond. I love how my apps have turned out (the Easter Hunt is my second one, but the biggest) and the feedback from others has been great! hyperPad makes something that seems impossible achievable.

Whether you’ve published several games and apps on the iOS store, or are just starting out, hyperPad makes making apps simple. Have any questions you’d like to share with Donni? Let her know in the comments below, and be sure to check out Easter Hunt, Treasure Hunt, and her website!

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EdTech Tool of the Week 4: Inform

Interactive fiction builds off choice-based fiction and paper role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons with immersive, text-based games. Games that help writing, reading, and critical thinking.

This week’s EdTech Tool—Inform—lets students from elementary school to university make their own interactive fiction on Mac and PC with a “natural” scripting language that flows like the English language. It’s an intuitive interface that makes the learning curve minimal for students (and teachers) without a coding background.

Get started with their tutorials, and bring EdTech to your classes. Oh, and don’t worry if you’re stuck on creating an ambitious simulation of the end of the Roman Republic. Inform also offers teacher support.

Let us know what you think of Inform and any other EdTech resources you know and love.

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EdTech Tool of the Week: NASA’s Climate Kids

This week we found something for the “S” in STEM—NASA’s Climate Kids. This site doesn’t teach tech, but it does use tech in a fun way to introduce young children (from about 8-11) to climate science.

The expert information introduces both the science and consequences of climate change, a vital part of any elementary curriculum. While the negative effects of global warming are inevitable and necessary when teaching climate science, Climate Kids manages to keep things hopeful, positive, and solution oriented. A balanced approach teachers have been searching for.

Get started with Climate Kids by beginning with “Guided Tour of the Big Questions.” This gives a feel for the site before bringing in the host of other resources from games and videos to multimedia-driven articles. The only complaint we have is that Climate Kids can be a bit too text-driven. But the site has plenty of raw material. Explore it first, and you’ll have no issue coming up with an engaging introduction to climate science.  

Let us know what you think of Climate Kids, the state of teaching STEM, and any other EdTech resources you know and love.

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Q&A with the creator of hyperPad’s first 3D engine

The best apps and games that you use and play took puzzle-solving skills to make. They start with an idea before requiring some serious ingenuity to bring to you. Making engines is even tougher, which is why we were so excited to see Three Dimensional made on hyperPad and available on the hyperPad Hub.

We sat down with Three Dimensional’s creator—Aidan Oxley—to see how he pulled-off the first 3D engine made for hyperPad.

Q: How did you hear about hyperPad?

A: About 4 or 5 years ago, when I was in year 8 or 9 of high school, one of my friends somehow found GamePress on the App Store, another friend (Jack8680) and I both downloaded it and loved it, the person that originally found it didn't so much though. GamePress upgraded to hyperPad, and we both downloaded it.

Q: How did hyperPad in particular help you in terms of teaching you the fundamentals of learning programming and making an engine? Did you use the community to help get ideas/feedback from?  

A: By the time I started using hyperPad, I already knew how to use pretty much all of it very well due to my time with GamePress. hyperPad is the only program I use to make game and apps, and I just learned how to make games slowly on my own with GamePress/hyperPad. I haven't used much community for 3D but for any of my projects I am very open to suggestions and feedback.

Q: What inspired you to make Three Dimensional and why did you make it with hyperPad?

A: The influence behind Three Dimensional was actually my mathematics class in high school, I thought I could make a 3D engine back then but it wasn't as easy as I thought (it looked ok when you rotated it either just up or just down, but when you rotated both together it looked very wrong). Eventually I did some research and found the maths I needed to make it work. I made it with hyperPad because it is the only app-making program I know how to use at the moment.

Q: Your projects are visually united with a sleek, neon aesthetic. What inspired this look?

A: I don't even know, probably because I just messed around with particles and decided they look really cool with the additive effect, I am not a good artist so it was also a pretty easy (and sometimes laggy) solution.

Q: How long did it take you to make Three Dimensional?

A: From the very start to now, like 2 or more years, with actual editing/thinking/writing maths down on a page, maybe a day in total. It was more recently that I worked on it a lot and got a lot of stuff working. Though, for like a year, I never got the 3D working properly, probably because I worked on it so rarely.

Q: What was your biggest achievement while making Three Dimensional, and what was the biggest challenge you faced?

A: The biggest challenge was getting the points to move based on the rotation of the object, but that took some help from the internet. My biggest achievement I would say might be having working faces, because I got that working on my own, also getting the generator to work (build a shape based off inputted code) was also really cool to make.

Q: What advice would you give to people out there, who want to make a game and learn coding basics, but don’t know where to start?

A: Definitely play and test all of your game before you upload it!! Play it to make sure it all works, and play it to make sure it's fun. I have seen people upload games that don't even work because they probably forgot to test it, and many games that are extremely simple and boring because all they have are some blocks, a player with default square collisions, maybe a jump with button and some collided behaviours, these games usually annoy people and will probably get lots of dislikes. If you need help with stuff, ask on the forums, there are plenty of people willing to help, including me :)

Q: Would you recommend hyperPad to people learning coding and that want to make a game? How did hyperPad help you learn?

A: Yes, hyperPad is a great game or app-making program, hyperPad definitely helped me learn how to make games lol because it's the only program I know how to make games in.

Q: Will you continue making more games and learning coding after using hyperPad?

A: I don't see myself ever quitting hyperPad in the future. I want to finish my Meteor game (it needs a reason for people to come back and continue playing, so I'll add skins and a currency system), and upload it to the App Store. I don't have an apple developer account yet or a Mac so there is still stuff to sort out. Once I get there though I'll also probably get lifetime developer so that I can keep uploading other games if I finish them, and I want lifetime because I am so slow with game making :P

Whether you’ve published several games and apps on the iOS store, or are just starting out, hyperPad makes making apps simple. Have any questions you’d like to share with Aidan? Let him know in the comments below, and be sure to check out Three Dimensional as well as Aidan’s other games!

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EdTech Tool of the Week: Minecraft Education Edition

Minecraft—the hit procedurally generated game—has turned out some inspired teaching material over the last several years. It brings out the creativity of teacher and student, unleashing novel ways to tackle any subject, from biology to writing. However, harnessing Minecraft for your classroom can seem a bit daunting. Fortunately, as of November 2016 Minecraft’s wealth of teaching potential is now collected in a centralized site—Minecraft Education Edition.

The Education Edition trains you on all things Minecraft for the classroom with training videos that span K-12 and get you ready to teach. But the real strength of the Education Edition is the active community in which teachers share some truly creative lessons. A lesson plan, community discussion, and teacher notes accompany each lesson, encouraging a collaborative and supportive environment for educators. I particularly like a lesson that teaches Boolean logic by creating logic gates in Minecraft.

Let us know what you think of Minecraft Education Edition, the state of teaching tech, and any other EdTech resources you know and love.

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Multiplayer and networked games with 1.17!

We just released our latest update, 1.17, and once again we’ve outdone ourselves with new additions. This update adds a lot of bug fixes as usual, and some great new behaviors to get your games online!

This biggest new additions are the HTTP Request behaviors, and Socket behaviors.

Using the new suite of HTTP Request behaviors you can send and retrieve JSON data to external servers. This means you can connect to 3rd party APIs and services. These can be used to create a own custom high score list, log in systems, turn based multiplayer games, or by connecting to a 3rd party api like the weather network, you can pull local weather from their servers. The possibilities are endless, and we can’t wait to see what you create.

The Socket behaviors are used to create real-time multiplayer games by connecting to your server running socket.io. With these behaviors you can create games where data (like object positions) are shared with all connected users in real-time. So you can create real-time multiplayer games like agar.io. Again, the possibilities are endless.

These additions are pretty advanced. They’re the same tools being used by some professionals and creators of top games in the App Store or on the web. We tried our best to simplify the process, but keep in mind these still require some setting up on your part. You’ll need your own server to send and receive all this data. Depending on how much these features are used, we’ll look into offering more complete solutions so you don’t need your own server. Consider this our first entry to the world of multiplayer, and a big beta-test 😃.

Along with the above new features, we’ve really enhanced the power of the behavior system by adding Data Structures. Specifically, we’ve added Arrays, and Dictionaries. These data structures are a great way to store large amounts of data inside of your app. For example, with arrays you can create a real level-editor. Store all the object positions in the array, then use the save behavior and save your entire array. Or using the Dictionary behavior, you can create an inventory system. Use the Dictionary to store the items by name, and how many you have. Once again, these are just simple examples. But with the addition of these data structures, and by pairing them with existing behaviors, you really can create advanced projects.

That’s not all we added. Here’s a complete list of what’s new and changed:

What's new:

Realtime Multiplayer! New behaviors to create real-time multiplayer apps and games using Socket.io. 

HTTP Requests. You can now send and retrieve JSON data from any server/api. Great for creating high score lists, log-in systems, friends lists, or connecting to existing apis.

Array Behaviors. Creating and using dynamic lists is now possible. With Arrays you have the power to create some really advanced stuff! You can use an Array to locally store your high-score list.

Dictionaries. Like arrays, these data structures will really help you create amazingly powerful games and apps. Try using a dictionary to create an inventory for your game.

Animations now based on FPS instead of a % based slider.

Keyframe Animation Priorities. You can now prioritize animations so they don't try playing at the same time.

iPad Pro Support.

Dynamic Audio Controls. Change pitch and volume of sounds dynamically with new and updated behaviors.

Realtime graphic blending modes.

Education/School log ins. Your school can now have its own custom area to share and collaborate.

Easier access to the forum.

Moved web navigation buttons for better experience.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed issue with mirroring an object to another scene

Fixed issue when closing behavior editor, but delete buttons are still tappable

Fixed issue with music playing across scenes and Global UI

Save behavior now keeps the list populated if you share the project with someone else

Fixed autocorrect in some input fields for behavior properties

Fixed bug with avatars now showing up correctly on iOS 10.2

Fixed missing behavior documentation/references

Fixed Calculate Direction to output angle as a float

Fixed Random Number behavior to include negatives and decimals

Fixed bug where music does not pause when pressing hyperPad menu button

"Made with hyperPad" sample ad now fits on iPhone

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EdTech Tool of the Week—Code.org

At hyperPad we’re passionate about games and teaching others computer science, and we get a lot of questions about how to teach tech. If you’re new to teaching computer science, the first, and of course best, option is to go through our user manual or pre-made samples to start teaching the basics of programming through game design. But as awesome as hyperPad is, one resource is never enough. So we thought it’s time to start sharing some of the fruits of our research, and introduce our newest blog segment—the EdTech Tool of the Week.

For our first week, we’ll start simple with a popular resource—code.org. They bring a large, well-curated library of lessons, from their deservedly famous Hour of Code sections to Code Studio (a great way to start bringing coding to a K-12 curriculum). Their simple drag-and-drop approach is a great way to focus on thoroughly teaching larger concepts without having bogging down the lessons with technical minutia.

Code.org and resources that take a similar approach aren’t without their critics. They’ve been called an overly simplistic methodology to bring programming to K-12 that causes long-term issues by teaching gimmicky, pop coding. They see it as detracting from developing an understanding of the foundations of computer science. We think this is an unfair criticism. A criticism that’s analogous to saying we should teach set theory before introducing basic algebra. Code.org and other drag-and-drop methods of teaching coding are a great way to build up confidence and an appreciation of the fundamentals. We first need to instill computational thinking, and for students who choose to pursue computer science professionally, we celebrate their graduating to more technically rigorous studies.

Let us know what you think of code.org, the state of teaching tech, and any other EdTech resources you know and love.

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Q&A with the creator of Adventure Mine

It seems like everyday there is a new app busting onto the scene and taking the world by storm (I’m looking at you Pokémon Go). You’re probably thinking to yourself, I’ve got a great idea, but don’t know how to code. Well, thankfully hyperPad is all about letting you create your imagination.

But the proof is in the pudding, which is why we sat down with Hakan Dede to ask him a few questions about how hyperPad helped him release his first ever iOS game—Adventure Mine.

Q: How did you find out about hyperPad?

A: I saw hyperPad when searching the App store for a game making app.

Q. Did you have any game development experience before Adventure Mine?

A:This is my first game, and I have no idea about coding.

Q. What inspired you to make Adventure Mine, and why did you make it with hyperPad?

A: I have always thought about making a game with real-world physics. Ready assets from the gamedeveloperstudio.com I uploaded into hyperPad made it possible to make the game.

Q: How long did it take you to make Adventure Mine?

A: 2 months

Q: What advice would you give to people out there, who want to make a game, but don’t know where to start?

A: I advise people to look for some cool game assets as it is graphics that make a game attractive to users at first sight.

In addition I suggest that game designers work more on developing the performance. I know there might be lots of features to add in the future, but even with current features it is possible to make a variety of games.

Q: What’s your favorite part about hyperPad?

A: Its simple language makes it easy to understand.

Q: Would you recommend hyperPad to people learning coding and that want to make a game?

A: Of course I would recommend hyperPad. The web is full of software that claims you can develop games without coding, but when you get those apps you see a lot of technical words and menus and get confused. But hyperPad is very easy to understand and has a simple menu. A great way to focus on game design.

Whether you’ve published several games and apps on the iOS store, or are just starting out, hyperPad makes making apps simple. Have any questions you’d like to share with Hakan, let him know in the comments below, and be sure to get Adventure Mine!

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What is computational thinking?

In our last post the term ‘computational thinking’ popped up often, as it does in most blogs, articles, and presentations on STEM and edtech. It’s the buzz phrase of the day in the pedagogy of how to teach tech. In this post we’ll look at what computational thinking is and a couple of resources that will help bring it to your classroom.

A big frustration for grade school students is the outdated, detached, and dry approach to STEM. Endless drills and memorization that, while they might encourage discipline, do little to reveal the underlying problem solving. This keeps math and science as overly lofty fields, untouchable by those without a preternatural disposition for numbers.

This really is too bad. Math and science should not feel alien. But if you go from years of mind-numbing drills to proof-based math, it’s not only a steep learning-curve, but it brings a new, unexpected approach to STEM. However, this forced and abrupt adaptation can leave students feeling inadequate, and as if they just weren’t meant to take classes in STEM, leaving students needlessly underprepared to tackle a modern career.

But if a student can write a reasonably well-structured essay, she should be able to tackle basic calculus and coding. To do this educators need to teach fundamental problem solving skills that encourage creativity and abstraction from an early age. That’s where computational thinking comes in handy.

Computational thinking, in its strictest sense, is a problem solving approach that uses the ideas of computer science to formulate a problem in a way that a computer can solve. An approach that abstracts collected data into simple patterns that help to create a methodology—an algorithm—to solve the problem. Something to keep in mind is that computational thinking doesn’t have to involve coding or even computers. Essentially it’s deconstructing problems into simple units and building a logical flow to put it all together and solve, a useful skill in developing  conceptual thinking and taking in the big picture.

While computational thinking is a unique approach to teaching it’s not a unique approach to thinking. So, if you’re not the most tech savvy educator, don’t worry, you’ve put in the leg work to think conceptually by getting your degree. For teachers with a liberal arts background, think of axioms, an Aristotelian argument, or, even more universal, grammar. Jeannete Wing, in her 2006 article introducing computational thinking, summarized it nicely: “Computational thinking is a way humans solve problems; it is not trying to get humans to think like computers.”

You can teach computational thinking to any kindergarten or high school class with a couple of key resources to get you started:

CS Unplugged

This is a great way to bring computational thinking to young and very young students without actually using technology. One particularly cool activity is teaching binary numbers with cards to kids as young as seven.

Google’s Exploring Computational Thinking (ECT)

Google seems to do it all. And while I’ve been a staunch Apple acolyte since my first computer in the late 1990s, I must admit that Google really did a great job with ECT. A collection of over 130 lesson plans and teaching materials arms educators with the tools needed to modernize any curriculum whether teaching grammar or the basics of data analysis.

These tools will help give you the know-how to bring computational thinking to your students, preparing them for a modern, innovative career that not only values whether or not you solve a problem but how you got there. In computational thinking, the elegance of the solution almost outweighs arriving at a correct answer. It’s a crucial mindset to instill that encourages and focuses the wide-eyed curiosity of a young child. An achievement that makes any educator’s day.

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3 Tools to Bring Coding into your STEM Curriculum

So what are some of the soft skills students pick up in an coding curriculum? Learning to program steeps kids in a hands-on problem solving environment that requires equal parts persistence and logical thinking. It encourages taking risks and trying new things—and in a programming environment where lots of frustrating hours don’t have to be spent debugging (something that drives my caffeine consumption). Once their project is done, it’s in a format for all to see. If your kids made games it’s a great opportunity to let them play (or rather show-off) their creations all while getting the chance to communicate what they did and how they did it. Explanations that you won’t need to draw out.

While you probably don’t have a classroom full of future computer scientists, the fundamentals of programming offer the practical and intellectual foundation for not just STEM but virtually any career trajectory. Plus, few things bring out a child’s curiosity like making their first game.

We all know the values of STEM. They’re the driving force behind innovation and job creation. But technical preparation hasn’t yet caught up with the demands of STEM fields. K-12 education needs to kick start a student’s appreciation, and ultimately ability, to thrive in tech. Unfortunately, learning STEM has not always been met with too much enthusiasm. So let’s teach it earlier, and teach it in a format that kids know and love to make the fundamentals of coding second nature.

Kids want to make the apps their lives revolve around, and want to get their devices to do what they want. It’s a fun, engaging experience with some very cool end-results to show off, especially when designing their own game. But a coding curriculum provides more than just a neat experience. It provides soft skills that translate to any path your students might choose.

Fortunately, even if you’re not bursting with computational skills, you can tap into a number of resources to give your curriculum a coding boost. Here are three great programming tools:

Code.org

Code.org serves as a great point of entry into all things edtech. It gives excellent advice on how to incorporate coding into your curriculum and instill computational thinking into your students, whether you’re an elementary school teacher or a high school educator. Get your pedagogy on and check out code.org.

EdTech

This magazine covers all things, well, edtech. It’s a great way to stay on top of education innovations with some good ideas on how to implement them into your classroom. Take a break from grading and read EdTech.

hyperPad

Yes, we know, shameless self-promotion, but we really do have a great platform. hyperPad gives a computational thinking foundation that evolves with the student. It’s a drag-and-drop editor where you essentially build flowcharts to create your program, allowing students to start with the basics of computational thinking and, within the same platform, graduate to more technically rigorous projects. Also, with hyperPad you can add your own graphics, sounds and other assets letting creativity run free. Additionally, for high-level students, when you export your hyperPad project, you get an Xcode project in which you can access text-based code. A great way to start teaching and learning hyperPad is our manual. Try it out and let us know what you think!

With these 3 tools, you'll have the know-how to bring the fundamentals of coding to your students. From there, whether they have their sights set on becoming the next Zuckerberg or something a bit more modest, knowing the basics of computer science will prepare any student for their career of choice.

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hyperPad 1.16 and the New Forum!

Another fantastic update for hyperPad! We've added some new behaviors, fixed a bunch of bugs and crashes. You can see the complete list of changes below. 

The hyperPad forum is also now live! You can access it from within the "Learn" section of hyperPad, or by visiting https://forum.hyperpad.com.

As always, we really appreciate you letting us know how you like the latest update by leaving an App Store review, or emailing us! Apple resets ratings after each hyperPad update, so remember to update your app store ratings and reviews.

What's New:

Added "Execute Sequence" behavior

Added "Get Health Bar" behavior

Added "Pause Music" behavior

Added "Get Z-Order" behavior

Added "Get Volume" behavior

"Play Music" behavior will now un pause music if it has been paused

"Play Music" behavior now uses input fields for volume instead of slider

"Play Sound" behavior now uses input fields for volume, pitch, and pan instead of sliders

You can now duplicate a behavior and it's settings

What's Fixed:

Fixed crash when using math functions and change value behavior

"Calculate Vector" now outputs the correct angle

Fixed issue that caused behaviors to still be selectable while window was open. Causing accidental behavior disconnects.

Fixed camera roll import not showing all contents on screen

Fixed labels having the wrong bounding box for retina devices, causing text to be cut off

Fixed play music behavior to show the song selected instead of saying "None Selected"

Fixed issue where preloading a scene would cause particles to stop working

Exponential motion tweens/ movement effects now work

Other crash fixes, bug fixes and performance improvements

[hyperpad]

hyperPad Now Free!

The latest hyperPad update (1.15) brings some great new features, lots of bug fixes, and biggest of all some pricing changes!

To make hyperPad more accessible to everyone we’re introducing a free tier, and making some changes on how to upgrade hyperPad.

There are now three tiers to hyperPad. hyperPad Free, hyperPad Indie, and hyperPad Developer (with two options to pay).

hyperPad Free: Get access to the basic hyperPad tool set. This is perfect for people new to game development, or for those who just want to try hyperPad out. There are a few limitations you need to be aware of

Maximum 100 behaviors for your entire project

Maximum 5 Scene per project

Maximum 3 Overlays per project

Maximum 5 Layers per scene

No offline usage

Ads when testing your project, or submitting to the hub

Only 10mb of cloud backup

hyperPad Indie:  This is essentially hyperPad as you currently know it. You get unlimited behaviors, unlimited scenes, unlimited overlays, unlimited overlays, offline usage, no ads, and 100 mb of cloud backup. Priced at $4.99 USD.

hyperPad Developer: This is targeted towards users who want to take their projects to the next level and publish them to the App Store. By signing up as a hyperPad Developer you automatically get hyperPad indie bundled in, and get to keep hyperPad indie even if you cancel your developer subscription!

Developers get the following perks:

Ability to export XCode projects to submit to the App Store (*Requires Apple Developer Account, and Mac)

Integrate Google Admob (Banners & Full Screen)

Analytics Tracking with Google Analytics

Closed Source projects

10gb of cloud back up storage

And more! (https://www.hyperpad.com/pro)

With the hyperPad Developer Tier we’re introducing two ways to pay. $9.99 a month, or $149.99 once for life.

hyperPad for Education:

We’ve also made a few changes that will affect education users.

Schools that are holding structured classes of 10 students or more are required to purchase either a hyperPad Indie license or have an active developer subscription for each student.  Alternatively schools can sign up for our hyperPad for Education licenses: https://www.hyperpad.com/education 

[hyperpad]

The 100 Challenge

Summer’s finally here! To celebrate we’re launching a new challenge. The theme for this challenge is to use no more than 100 behaviors.

You can create any game, app, or demonstration you want but it can not exceed 100 behaviors in the editor. What you create is up to you. Just make sure it’s interesting enough for the community to vote on.

The top 3 voted projects will have their projects featured in the hub, and first place winner will get 1 month free of PRO.

Rules

You must be the owner. No branching for this one. It’s okay to be inspired, but you must make the project your self.

No copyright material. You must make the graphics your self, or have permission (that means no google image search!)

Only projects submitted after July 10, 12:00 AM Eastern Time will be accepted.

You must use the keyword The100

You’re allowed to spawn objects with behaviors, these do not count. The 100 limit is within the editor only.

You can update your project as many times as you want BEFORE the deadline.

As always, we encourage you to submit your project early so you can get feedback on your project and update your game as you see fit.

All projects must be shared to the hub and use the keyword The100.

You must submit your project by  Sunday July 31 11:59 PM Eastern Time.

[hyperpad]

hyperPad 1.14 Now Available!

hyperPad 1.14 just hit the App Store, and even though it’s been only a few weeks since 1.13, this one still packs a punch!

This update includes some great features, bug fixes, and performance improvements.

New Features:

Color Blending options for objects: Your object colors can look different based on what is behind the object. Similar to photoshop blend modes. Includes: Normal, Dodge, Burn, Screen, Disable

For Each Behavior: Repeatedly trigger connected behaviors a certain amount of times. Includes For-Loop functionality from traditional programming languages!

Improved Drag & Drop Behavior: You can now restrict dragging to X or Y directions, or a specific area.

Better Object Flipping: Flipping object now sets the scale to -100 instead. Flips collisions and anchors!

Revamped Save Behavior: Saving is now much easier! All of your saves are stored in a single place, and any new save behavior can select what to save. So you no longer need to have your save logic in one place.

Reset Save Data: From the hyperPad menu you can reset all the save data. This is great for testing purposes

School Logins: Schools can now sign up to have their own private hyperPad hub. This means that your students can share their work with only their classmates. Students also get to take advantage of PRO features like 10gb of cloud backups, and exporting to the App Store! You can learn more by going to https://www.hyperpad.com/education

Bug Fixes:

Math Function doesn’t output any values

Changing collisions would make you leave and come back to move shapes around

Flipping a graphic would put the collisions in the wrong place

Default Screen button was making scene position in the wrong place

New scenes/projects in the portrait orientation would have the wrong screen position

Play music will no longer restart the music on each scene… Finally!

When preloading a scene, existing global ui moved to preloaded scene and removed it from the current scene.

Rotate to object wouldn’t point to the right place

Negative scales would break physics

A bunch of other bugs, performance improvements, and UI tweaks.

As always, we appreciate users rating hyperPad in the App Store after each update. This helps us stay relevant in the App Store, and the feedback you provide allows us to improve hyperPad.

Also, you probably noticed this update released quicker then usual. We’re trying something new at hyperPad. We’ll be doing smaller quicker updates every few weeks instead of really big ones every few months. This way we can fix any bugs much quicker, and you get to access some new features right away too  😀