Kodu is a new game programming language / tool from Microsoft. It has had a very low-key launch, I came across it as it was featured in the excellent Edge Magazine last month. Kodu is initially available to the public on X-Box Live Marketplace for about £3.50. I have been fortunate enough to be allowed on to the Beta of the PC version, this is currently only open to educators. You can apply to join the Beta by following the link from this MSDN blog. Watch this video from Microsoft, it gives you a quick feel of how the program works:
Kodu demonstration for schools
I have spent the whole morning working through the tutorials and examples getting a feel for what is possible and I have to say I am impressed by the scope of the package. I’m also a little bit overwhelmed. So I decided to try and build the bare bones of a game from scratch. I chose a tower defence style game as the mechanics of it are simple enough. What follows is a quick run through of my progress so far, I hope it serves as a good enough introduction of Kodu.