Cato's Hike Lite
| Category | Price | Seller | Device |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education | Free | Hesham Wahba | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
"Who says that computer programming should only be left to the adults?... although Cato’s Hike is geared towards children, it can definitely unlock the little programmer in all of us." -- AppAdvice
Even though this is the Lite version, it includes the tutorial world and the *FULL* map editor and sandbox so you can create your own little worlds and puzzles and play through them and challenge your friends and family around you. The full version of the game will unlock the rest of the worlds and allow you to email and share your programs and maps as well as open maps and programs that your friends and family send you so you can teach and learn from them as well!
Cato is a little boy who just like every little boy likes to go out and play. One fine day Cato was playing outside when a portal to another world opened up in front of him; a portal to another world!
Cato stepped through and discovered that this world unlike his own didn't follow the same rules. Every time he tried to take a step or an action he'd find himself stuck in place. Stuck that is until he finally discovered the rules in this universe: by writing a program for himself he would be able to overcome all obstacles and learn something new along the way!
Features:
* Simple programming interface using beautiful cards with pictures
* 59 levels and 10 tutorials (always working to add more!)
* Powerful map editor so you can create your own maps and puzzles and share with friends
* Preview your maps directly in the map editor to save time and test out your maps more quickly!
* Saves program progress so you can pick up at any time and iteratively develop
* Email your puzzle solutions to share your genius with others
* Beautiful artwork and amusing sound effects and music
* A manual to help guide parents and more interested users
* Puzzles ranging from easy to hard to teach different programming concepts without trying to force them
* Loops, branches and if/else, and simple memory using colored flags are the main tools used to introduce programming
* Emailed maps include gorgeous screenshot of what you are sending so your friends know what to expect
* Cato's Hike teaches children (ages 5+) the essentials of programming and how to think about solving complex problems
* The challenges in there are solvable easily by children of all ages but more nuanced and complex solutions should challenge teenagers and parents alike!
* Just a fun puzzle game :)
Upcoming features:
* MORE LEVELS!
* Hints on harder levels
* Possibly more tutorial levels if enough ask for it
* Possible cloud-sync
Essentially, 'Cato’s Hike' is a universal game for the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch to teach kids and young children basic programming skills. The younger ones will obviously enjoy solving levels using simpler coding techniques but the hope is the older ones will pick up more advanced concepts like loops and branching as well as even more advanced concepts like a basic stack or memory! There is enough in here to keep everyone from children to parents engaged! More challenges are upcoming however so stay tuned!
As with all my projects I take this one very seriously and I hope you enjoy. I intend to continue improving Cato's Hike as much as possible and incorporate your feedback and suggestions as well as try to make it more intuitive and better able to convey the concepts it is setting out to teach. If you have any questions, suggestions, ideas, or bugs you'd like to report please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly at: [email protected]
Reviews
Learning to program
Brother Corporate
When I was learning to program a long, long time ago, they tried to teach the kids the basics of control and loops with a program called Logo. Not much has been done in this field for the past 30 years. Cato goes a long way to teach basic concepts of logic and control in a fun way. Somewhere along the way, programming went from being fun to getting Spring Hibernate POJOs to talk to you ESB. This app reminds me of why I became a programmer in the first place.
Great potential, full version tempting me!
New Picasso
Keep up the good work. More free levels would be great but being able to create as many maps as I want is still lots of fun. Will definitely get the full version when I've played with it more :)
doesn't work
tandy coco
very first tutorial refers to a button .... green rectangle with an up arrow inside that isn't on the interface anywhere. if you hit the next free circle in the grid you seem to get a list of actions as indicated, but choosing the indicated "walk" card and then hitting > generates an error message implying you hadn't placed an action card. maybe it can be made to work but not if you try to follow the instructions in the tutorial.
Crap.
artist.with.an.app
Whenever you try to load a level it crashes. Would have been good app though
Crashes
Edman14
I go to the practice or not the level be teaching you how to do stuff and it keeps on crashing i really want to try this out too ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Confusing interface, buggy
Merman69
I felt the interface was more complicated than it needed to be for a kids game. Very buggy, kept crashing. Giving two stars because the concept is good, but I felt it wax unusable.
Crashes
michael stokes
It looks great but I can't get into the first level or create a map. It crash out of the game when I try. I am using iOS 6.01 maybe it will work with iOS 5? Please update your app!!
Very buggy, many crashes
Z1NG4R0
So many bugs, no way am I buying the paid version. This app crashes, plus once you get it playing its lacking buttons it says you need and the UI is super wonky. Sad.
