Kodu Game Lab

The Kodu Game Lab is a visual environment for 3D game development. It does not require programming knowledge, and can even be used by children. The main idea of Kodu is to focus the user's attention on the story and the idea of the game with its logic, instead of constantly thinking about the details of programming. Kodu originated as a project in Microsoft Research and was first released for the Xbox 360; the PC version adds keyboard, mouse and touch support. It is completely free and needs no product key.

To start creating a game in Kodu, the first thing you need to do is to create a game world where game characters are added to interact according to the rules you set. For faster creation of the game, a set of ready-made worlds is available, but you can create your own world from scratch with the terrain brushes, which paint, add and delete ground. There are also ready-made characters and objects, such as Kodu, the rover and apples, to which you can assign actions using WHEN and DO tiles. For example, a character can shoot a missile when a certain key is pressed. The rules are evaluated continuously, so characters react immediately to changes in the world, and creating a finished game does not take much effort.

The main benefit of Kodu Game Lab is its user-friendly interface that enables anyone, including children, to develop 3D games without programming knowledge.