Hi there!

If you're looking to subscribe to AdaBox, click here!

Oh! Hello! If you're here, (and we suspect you are) it's because you were given the gift of handheld gaming development and coding with an AdaBox! Perhaps you are a beginner who is getting started with your AdaBox. Or maybe you just want to relive what it's like being a beginner at game development and coding again. But most of all, you want to learn how to build and make creative, awesome games! (If, rather than learn game dev and coding, you'd like to look at pictures of cats instead, please check https://www.adafruit.com/galleries/cats-of-engineering But if we're being honest, learning game development and coding will inevitably lead to even more efficient, creative, and high-tech cat picture viewing. It's pretty much cats all the way down, people.)

Anyway, back to our story: You're in luck: there's never been a better time. Seriously. We're not just saying that. It's bonkers how great a time this is for you to learn game development and coding!

Gone are the days where you need thousands of dollars of equipment and a physics/math background. If you have a dream of creating games with stylin' pixel art and chip-tune soundtracks for your own handheld gaming device, you can build them! Want to design your own RPG? You can do it! How about an re-make of an 8-bit classic? You'll be doing that in no time!

Now is the the time to learn game development and coding for the PyGamer using Microsoft's MakeCode Arcade, the easy-to-use, drag-and-drop development environment you can run right in the browser! And uploading your games to play on your PyGamer is a snap!

Oh, and did we mention, you can also use Arduino and CircuitPython with the PyGamer? You can!

Thanks to the generous sponsorship and support from Digi-Key for making designing and shipping this box a breeze -- they always ship out parts orders super fast! We even made a game in their honor, that's included on your PyGamer and ready to play -- see if you can pack purchase orders as well as they do!

Who is this for?

Anyone who's interested in playing and/or creating their own video games, that's who! If you want to learn how to code your own games, create pixel art sprite and animation, gameplay mechanics, scoring, and even chiptune soundtracks, this is for you! And a desire to play your own games on the go on a totally rad handheld gaming platform. Oh, and with access to a modern web browser to do the coding. That's pretty much the minimum. Remember, this guide is specifically for people who have purchased or received an AdaBox subscription!

You don't need to know a lot of physics or math, and just like an Art Degree isn't required for making art and being creative, you don't need to have a computer science or engineering degree. It helps if you're comfortable using computers, but that's a skill most people pick up through life.

If you know how to program already - great! If not, don't worry, we'll teach you enough to be dangerous, yet effective!

Who isn't this for?

While you can follow along without an AdaBox, it will not make as much sense unless you have all of the components and more which either came as a gift or purchased yourself - remember, the goal is helping beginners!

If you're an expert, please visit our hundreds other tutorials and jump right in at learn.adafruit.com

Who are you?

Great question. This is me:

I'm Ladyada, and I love to teach people how to build stuff and how they can be creative with technology.

So, are you ready?

Let's do this thing!

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This guide was first published on Jun 16, 2019. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

This page (Introduction) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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