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Disney and Code.org launches Star Wars-themed Hour of Code tutorials

Disney and Code.org are joining forces in an effort to help educate on computer science and raise a new generation of game developers through a new Hour of Code online tutorial that teaches K-12 students how to design games using Star Wars characters.

Ozzie Mejia

November 10, 2015 10:01 AM

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The effort to raise the next generation of programmers and creators is not a responsibility that should be taken lightly. It's important to raise children with the knowledge necessary to keep the great tradition of game development alive. With that said, Disney and the folks at Code.org are doing their part, announcing yesterday a new Hour of Code resource for K-12 students.

Hour of Code is a batch of free online lessons, which offer lessons and tutorials on crafting a game from scratch. To help move the lessons along, Disney is offering up the Disney Infinity versions of Princess Leia and R2-D2, along with Rey and BB-8 from the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

This is not Disney's first foray into computer science lessons. Last year, Disney and Code.org partnered up for a tutorial centered around Disney's Frozen. The tutorial was completed more than 13 million times. For this year's lesson, the focus is on coding and building Star Wars games, which can be completed on phones and shared with friends.

In one sense, this can be seen as Disney's gaming branch investing in its future. After all, raising a generation of developers means raising a generation of prospective hires for the future. But any effort to educate the masses is something that should be lauded, especially given the galling lack of computer science programs in K-12 schools. To learn more, be sure to visit Code.org.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?