MINECRAFT CODING INFO

HISTORY 

In 2014 Microsoft bought Minecraft & made changes to it. One of the changes was to introduce Agents (programmable robots) for each player. One of the programming languages used to program these Agent robots is MakeCode. 

MakeCode is a blockly language which means it uses a Google developed method of creating a program.

​Code blocks can dragged and dropped to fit together (like a puzzle). This is easy for beginning programmers & there are fewer syntax errors.

Click on the MakeCode link

This will take you to a MakeCode Documentation web page

Find the agent link under the Reference heading and read about the blocks that the agent can be controlled by. Look at player and blocks as well 

GETTING MINECRAFT & CODE CONNECTION WORKING

Click the Minecraft shortcut icon on your screen 

To login to Minecraft you will need to enter:

1. Your school email e.g. 12345@myschool.nz 

2. Press next and wait to be redirected to another screen for password entry

3. Your school computer network password

To run the Code Connection

1. Enter the '/code' command in Minecraft

2. Click on the MakeCode button

Or

Click the Code Connection shortcut on your screen. Load the '/connect ...' code into the console. Then click the MakeCode button.​ 

MAKECODE GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI)

MAKECODE FOLDER STRUCTURE

All the file for this assessment need to be kept on the school network (not the cloud). You should already have an Minecraft folder, find it and make a new folder called 'MakeCode'. Inside the MakeCode folder make a 'programs' folder. 

SAVING A MAKECODE PROJECT

Saving your code will be very important. In this assessment you will need to submit a working program. There is a floppy disk icon at the bottom of the MakeCode programming screen. Click this to save the project. A Windows Save screen will open and you can navigate to your "programs' folder. When a MakeCode file is saved it should have an 'mkcd' file extension or be called a MKCD file. It's a good idea to check files are saved correctly. 

TUTORIALS

To learn about the MakeCode programming language there are tutorials provided in the code connection. These tutorials will affect your minecraft world. Since we are focused on using the 'agent' try those ones (Agent move, and Agent build). Other tutorials such as Billboard are also useful. The tutorials appear when you first open the MakeCode Code Connection.

TASK

Complete the Agent move, agent build and billboard tutorials. 

Minecraft MakeCode tutorial by M.Williams & G.Smirk  2018