Inspiration

I wanted to test whether a more technical workshop could work in my community. After taking a module on computational thinking, I saw a classmate solve a problem with several hundred primitive statements — and I realised how unintuitive programming can be when you don’t structure your thinking first.

What I did

I built Frontier Explorer, a maze game designed for people with a programming background. Players navigate a maze by writing code, and the game is deliberately coded so both semantic and syntax errors can occur — just like real programming.

• Used AI to convert my Python syntax and logic into JavaScript; the main challenge was structuring the code so it was easy to expand
• Built on my experience modding Stellaris: stages are loaded from an external JSON file, so I can add new stages without writing code
• Instructions are read naturally, then executed through simple else if logic

Play Frontier Explorer

I also started a second game that used the Settler Frontier theme more literally — the player actually surviving and exploring the frontier — but I couldn’t finish it in time.

What I’m proud of

• Turning a hard-to-grasp skill (structured programming) into something hands-on and fun
• Designing the game so content can be added without touching code (JSON-driven stages)
• Running a workshop that actually got people to think about how they write code

What can be further improved

• The second Settler Frontier game went unfinished — I’d scope it tighter or focus on one game next time
• The instruction parser could handle a wider range of natural-language inputs
• Better onboarding for absolute beginners, who may still find the code entry point intimidating