The Hour of Code is a worldwide event that aims to introduce youngsters to the wonderful world of computer programming, hoping to pique their interest in computer science and perhaps aim for a job in the technology sector in the future…
And one Hour of Code session being held in Canada this December was attended by none other than Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, where he showed how easy it apparently is to make a video game, as he cooked up a simple ice hockey game using the building-block programming tool Code Studio.
Trudeau was upbeat about the Hour of Code event, stating that “every job we’re going to do in the future will rely on technology” and also that “this is part of making sure we have a great resource in terms of young people who understand how to code and understand how important it is” according to the star.com.
Although his game does have its share of issues according to gaming website GameSpot (and it certainly isn’t a patch on EA’s superb NHL series), while it’s also clear that modern video game development isn’t as easy though.
It's never too early to teach kids to code – or for them to teach me! Thanks https://t.co/GYYInxrDKf for a great #hourofcode at @Shopify. pic.twitter.com/ubOND9EAA6
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) December 5, 2016
Actually, despite Trudeau’s encouraging words, the truth is that modern video game development is as competitive as it has ever been, and also putting a game in the market does take years of hard labour which doesn’t always pay off, as there have been quite a few video game flops released to date such as Duke Nukem Forever and also more recent games like Homefront: The Revolution were not well-received by gamers or reviewers.
There’s also the case of highly-anticipated games that turned out to be major disappointments, as was the case of the eagerly awaited No Man’s Sky, with the devs at Hello Games being unable to make good on their promises for the hugely ambitious PS4 game. And maybe this was due to a lack of resources, as video game budgets have been escalating wildly these last couple of years, with the likes of Destiny reportedly costing a whopping $500 million to make.
Also, even superb games like the recently released The Last Guardian spent many years in development hell, as the game was originally announced back in 2009 for the PS4, but actually came out in December this year, several years after the PS4 hit the market. So it’s not surprising that making games these days takes a toll on developers, with Neil Druckmann (who was creative director for the great Uncharted 4 video game) stating bluntly in an interview with VentureBeat that game development involves “lots of hard work”.
But still, the Hour of Code event is still a great way to get youngsters interested in coding and perhaps in video game development at a later date, hopefully leading to a difficult but rewarding career in the video game world in the future.