Introduction

From the very first steps with the "choose your own adventure" style code to a complete immersive, massive multipler, game system that can incorporate alements from arcade and platform games to MMORPG's and Social/Casual Games, JiGS (the game system) and Zen and the art of DojoGame- (the teaching style) is a lighthearted attempt to combine the spirit of Martial Arts (and other elements of Eastern Culture such as the Haiku) with Web Programming ,in particular Web Game programming

JiGs is a tile based, online muliplayer game and suimulation engine that uses plugins to create a multiverse of ideas, in which a student can participate after their very first day in the coderdojo. It is a part of a complete learning system, collected and collated from original material and the various turorials available online and in pdf format.

This system is geared towards answering several specific problems to be addressed within any dojo

How to grab the kids attention in the first 15 minutes on day one
The first module in this system is building a choose your own adventure using html. It requires two commands ahref for llinking and img src for inserting images. Using a simple left right concept ie choose left you die choose right you are inside the castle, the student is given the tools instantly to create a complex game with one html page per room, and the ability to insert images from the net to complete the game design process.

How to keep their attention for three years
The system JIGS is a modular online universe where every tile is a chapter built by a junior developer, the tile can be a simple Choose your own adventure as with the previous module or a gate way into a platform game or 3d universe. Because of the advances in broswer technology and the singular approach (HTML5), a direct and unsderstanble path from day 1 to year three is self apparent.

To help mentors and students who want direction beyond the first 3-4 weeks.
The first few weeks are relativey easy, once you get over the terrifying first hour. But coding is about the design oprocess as much ias it is about code, and not all coders are desgners. The online universe and it's mofdular pugin system will easiliy insire coders( both mentors and students to give the desing process as much import as the coding developing process. By design I am not talking about graphic design or even game design, but archetecture and system design.

To challenge and interest mentors and junior developers
In short the students build the plugins, the chapters and the minigames, the mentors build the framework and engine, with as much crossover as anyone wants.

At preset we use Joomla as the underlying framework, but what about a drupal version? a standalone one? maybe using nodejs?

To teach skills that are both general but also directly applicalbe in the employemnt arena
Scratch and Blockly are perfect fro introducing concepts and conbstructs for 6-12 years olds. UIn comparison this systen teach design and coding skills using HTML5 php and javascript. These are the tools of the browser.

To remain at the cutting edge of technology
The browser (whether mobile or desktop) has become a prmary method of distribition and has changed the way technology is consumed. Javascript is now bound to both the Linux and Microsoft desktops.

To introduce simulation concepts
What happens when the oil runs out? Or if crime rates go through the roof? Because the system is based on plugins, it has the ability to change over time. At the beginning of the game we introduce oil, and mining and cars, over sx months the oil runs out and the cars become scrap, so we turn off the oil plugin and introduce a nuclear plugin. But the reactor has a 1 in a thousabd chance of exploding. And where do you put all the waste?

Focuses on colloboration not competition
In the game no one dies, they simply start from scratch. Best thing there is to play in a team.

Vut this focus on collaboration is not limited to playing the game, it is consistant when creating the chapters within the game too.

When you complete a chapter in one students game, maybe you win a scoll that helps the players in another sdtudents game, or your global stats are affected.

Both from a design and development perpscetive and in playing the game, colloboration and problem solving are kept to the fore. There is nothing to stop a kid making the next ccode of honour killfest. But it is only one chapter in a multide of games.

The kids are encouraed to play each others games, figure ourt weays of being able to work alone or in small teams but also be part of a larger effort.