Virtual sandbox

Abstract

This paper highlights shortcomings of programming environments designed for novices to be used as a collaborative tool in game design. It also addresses these issues in the context of the bad image of informatics today. This article focuses on the graphical programming environment Scratch, which is well received by pupils and teachers. We will present observations on group behavior using Scratch in two projects at schools. The pupils were between 12 and 18 years old and had to design games within a week. Finally, we will introduce a Scratch mock-up to support collaboration, whose features were derived from our observations.