Code Combat
Community Review for CodeCombat
My Take
It is a fantastic tool to get kids interested in coding. I find its very effective when I make a competition out of it (e.g. first three students who complete the first dungeon win some kind of reward). I am easily able to move my licenses between kids so I can serve more students.
My biggest criticism is the lack of flexibility in the educational version. They have removed the items and gems from this version of the game but I've found those things to be very motivating and exciting to the kids. I understand why they did this as they can be distracting from the core educational content but I believe that decision should be up to the teacher.
How I Use It
I use it in my Media Arts class to reinforce our coding lessons and as something they can do when they finish other assignments. I also teach coding in after school and I use the paid licenses so they can take the game design and web design courses. I also used it at a summer camp to get a large group of kids interested in coding.