A creative new Pytch game 🎮🌱

As part of our ongoing work exploring creative coding, our Research Assistant, Martin Nang’ole, recently developed a brand-new interactive gardening game. We were delighted to have the opportunity to trial the game during a hands-on workshop with Transition Year (TY) students from Stratford College, Rathgar.

Martin developed the game using micro:bit functionality created by Sébastien Dunne Fulmer. The game was inspired by an idea from Sara Fiori, Ph.D. student with Pytch, who suggested designing a project with broad appeal and a creative, relaxing theme. Martin worked his magic and created a delightful gardening game where students could combine coding, creativity and physical interaction using micro:bits.

“It’s so cute!” 🌸

From the moment the students loaded the game, the excitement in the room was immediate. Comments such as “It’s so cute!”, “I love it!” and “It’s beautiful!” rang out across the classroom as students began to explore the game.

The Pytch team were delighted with the enthusiastic response the new game received. We were also hugely impressed by the engagement, creativity and interest shown by the Stratford College students throughout the workshop.

Creativity combining software and hardware 🖥️📟

One of the highlights of the workshop was demonstrating the interaction between the Pytch software and the physical micro:bits hardware. Students were able to see how their code connected directly to the micro:bit, creating an engaging hands-on experience that combined both software and hardware in a fun and accessible way.

The students demonstrated both their technical and creative abilities working through the various workshop tasks. Students progressed to personalising their own versions of the game by adding music, editing graphics and even sourcing entirely new plants and objects to grow in their gardens.

In fact, when the two-hour workshop came to an end, some students even stayed behind to finish customising their projects – always a very good sign!

A huge thank you 🌻

A huge thank you to Helen O’Kelly, Computer Science teacher and TY Coordinator at Stratford College, for the incredibly warm welcome, hospitality and enthusiasm for the workshop. We are also very grateful to the wonderful students of Stratford College for their energy, creativity and engagement throughout the session.

Special thanks also to Sébastien Sunne Fulmer for developing the functionality that helped bring the game to life, and to Sara Fiori for the original idea for the project.

Artwork acknowledgements

We would also like to acknowledge and thank the talented creators whose artwork helped make the gardening game so visually engaging:

• Flower graphics by kathychow
  https://kathychow.itch.io/16×16-tiny-garden-free-pack
• Character sprites by CaniaEast
  https://caniaeast.itch.io/dress-hijabi-pixel-sprites
• Background, soil, water, trees and fruit graphics by Bart Kelsey
  https://opengameart.org/content/berry-garden