Using Retro Arcade With Our Makers

Using the Retro Arcade for Education, our middle school makers will design and code a working video game and pass it on to a friend.

Retro Arcade for Education device; computer with access to MakeCode Arcade: https://arcade.makecode.com/

Retro Arcade is a device created to use hand-in-hand with MakeCode Arcade's platform to design and code video games. This will allow our students to design a video game, load it onto the the Retro Arcade to test and share with a friend. Retro Arcade comes with one device, a USB to USB-C cable and a few Lego-type bricks to customize the case. (Full disclosure: Elecfreaks kindly sent me a Retro Arcade device to test with my middle school coding club.)

Our middle school coding clubs really enjoy the Micro:Bit and MakeCode Arcade platforms: https://arcade.makecode.com/ These are fantastic options for our coders. Using the MakeCode Arcade platform, we can introduce game design and creation. The platform is web-based, free and can be used without an account. It also tends to be more accessible than Scratch for our students as some of the mechanics of video game design come already coded into the platform.

Our students worked to create their own custom video games on the platform. One exciting feature for our students was to use the pixel painting options to design their own characters and enemies in the game. There are lots of excellent resources for teachers on how to use MakeCode Arcade: https://arcade.makecode.com/educators

Once our students designed their games, one limitation of the MakeCode Arcade platform is that it isn't easy to share a created game with a friend. Without creating an account on the platform, the game lives through the cookies on that student's device. In the past, we have created arcade devices using a Raspberry Pi to share these games with each other. Now with the Retro Arcade, we have a hand-held option.

In following the provided instructions, it only took our students a few seconds to load their finished games on the device. This included plugging in the device using the USB cable, choosing the "hardware" method of downloading their game and then pressing the reset button on the device. After a few seconds, the student-created game was on the device and ready to be tested.

The Retro Arcade is a great tool to add to the excitement of building a custom video game. As a teacher, I could see sharing a few of these devices out to students who ready to test and share their games. At about $50 each on Amazon, they are affordable and students loved the hand held action. This also makes prototyping and game testing rapid as students can only load one game on the device at a time. And it adds a physical device to the coding experience, which my students enjoy. These devices could also be used to share out the work of our group and invite other students to play some games. Thanks again to Elecfreaks for sharing a Retro Arcade with our coders!