Waddle: A Serious Game to Teach Writing, Reading, and Debugging Programs
summary
Waddle is a deployed web app (TypeScript, React, PixiJS) that teaches writing, reading and debugging via a custom DSL built with Monaco and Langium and executed by a coroutine interpreter. It provides autocomplete, syntax highlighting, type checking, a time-travel debugger, integrated quizzes and records every editor action as JSON. The prototype contains 42 levels, targets three-hour introductory sessions, and has preliminary data from 56 participants aged 12–17 showing high motivation, spontaneous peer teaching, and reluctance to use the debugger until prompted.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00Serious game programming intro
- 1:48Game overview and mechanics
- 3:54Technical construction
- 7:02Debugging tools
- 9:28Learning paths and levels
- 12:38Preliminary study
- 15:28Future research goals
- 17:35Open questions
- 18:15Live demo
- 22:50Q&A on debugger hesitation
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