Simon Rose
Dimbot
angularjadenodemongothreejsless

Dimbot is a puzzle game based on Lightbot. It is written using the MEAN stack (MongoDB, AngularJS, Express.js and Node.js), and uses three.js for the 3D graphics. The source code can be found here.

The game was used to conduct a research study for my Masters investigating the effects of visual programming environments on problem solving ability in young children (age 6 and 7). It has 2 different versions: one for ScratchJr-like (block-based) instructions and one for the Lightbot instruction approach. The key difference between the two is that ScratchJr-like instructions can be added to the program but are not executed unless attached to a 'start' block, whereas all the instructions in the Lightbot style program are executed.

A conference paper describing this application and the research study it was used in was presented at the 10th European Conference for Game Based Learning. A follow up article was published in the Electronic Journal of E-Learning.

Level 1 ScratchJr Instructions
Level 2 Lightbot Instructions
Simon Rose 2021 ©