Teach coding by making games — in plain English. No installs, no logins required, works on the devices you already have.
Try it now Open the tutorial Command reference 🖨 Printable cheat sheet
move player with arrows, when player picks up any coin.
The syntax wall that stops most beginners is gone — great for younger students
and English-language learners.
FreeNo account to codeOffline-capablePhone + ChromebookAges ~8+
codeonline.io. No setup, no accounts.
Open codeonline.io on the board. Open the Light Cycles (or
Tag) demo, play 30 seconds, then click into the editor and show them: it’s
just English. Change one word (a color) and Run.
Have everyone type this and press Run:
player is {x: 60, y: 60, image: "hero"}
coins is list of 6 sprites {image: "coin"}
coins are pickups
score is 0
when player picks up any coin
increase score by 1
to update
move player with arrows
to draw
clear screen to dark blue
each coin in coins
draw sprite "coin" at coin.x, coin.y
draw sprite player at player.x, player.y
write "score {score}" at 2, 2 in white on hud
run game with update and draw
Walk through it line by line — it reads like a description of the game. Click the screen, use the arrow keys, collect coins.
Challenge cards — students pick one or more:
time limit is 30 seconds and
when time runs out → show “TIME UP”.play sound "coin".Each student copies their share link (or, signed in, hits 🌐 publish) and trades with a partner to play. Quick gallery walk: a few volunteers show theirs on the board.
hostile tags), a title screen and menus, a two-player multiplayer
game, scoring and high-score saving. The reference has a
runnable example for every command, and the tutorial is a
self-paced path students can follow independently.ghosts chase player — built-in chase behavior (no math!).ghosts are hostile — tags them as dangerous.when player hits any ghost — runs when they touch.Build on Lesson 1 (or paste this whole game):
world is {width: 128, height: 128}
player is {x: 64, y: 90, image: "hero", speed: 1.5}
coins is list of 6 sprites {image: "coin"}
coins are pickups
score is 0
lives is 3
ghost is {x: 64, y: 16, image: "slime", speed: 0.7}
ghosts is []
add ghost to ghosts
ghosts chase player
ghosts are hostile
when player picks up any coin
increase score by 1
when player hits any ghost
decrease lives by 1
to update
move player with arrows
to draw
clear screen to dark blue
each coin in coins
draw sprite "coin" at coin.x, coin.y
each g in ghosts
draw sprite "slime" at g.x, g.y
draw sprite player at player.x, player.y
write "score {score} lives {lives}" at 2, 2 in white on hud
run game with update and draw
Discuss: the slime follows the player because of one English line.
Ask students to make it faster (speed), add a second ghost, or end
the game (if lives is at most 0 ...). Note the plain-English forms:
increase/decrease ... by and comparisons like
is at least, is more than read just like the design.
mode is "title" — which screen we’re on.to screen title / to screen play — each screen
draws itself; fc shows the one matching mode.show button "play" + when button "play" is clicked
+ go to play — a menu in three lines.mode is "title"
to screen title
clear screen to dark blue
write "COIN HUNT" at 34, 40 in yellow on hud
write "tap PLAY to start" at 28, 56 in white on hud
show button "play" at 50, 74
when button "play" is clicked
go to play
player is {x: 64, y: 90, image: "hero", speed: 1.5}
coins is list of 6 sprites {image: "coin"}
coins are pickups
score is 0
when player picks up any coin
increase score by 1
to update
if mode is "play"
move player with arrows
to screen play
clear screen to dark green
each coin in coins
draw sprite "coin" at coin.x, coin.y
draw sprite player at player.x, player.y
write "score {score}" at 2, 2 in white on hud
run game with update and draw
Share it: click 🔗 share to copy a link that opens this exact game in anyone’s browser — or, signed in, 🌐 publish it to the community gallery. Have students trade links and play each other’s.
A classroom dashboard (rosters, progress, a private class gallery) and a full curriculum are on the roadmap. If you’d like to pilot codeonline with your class or school, get in touch: Kevin Long.