adventuretron

adventuretron

Create self-guided workshops using electron.

Work in progress

What you see here is a very early version of Adventuretron. Expect breaking changes.

Adventuretron is alive!

To see an example of an Adventuretron workshop, check out this work in progress workshop that teaches creating Adventuretron workshops: adventuretron-adventure.

What works?

• basic i18n support.
• value, code, & file input challenges
• navigation & verification of challenges

What's next?

• improved input helpers
• simpler hello world adventuretron app
• changes to api (is require('adventuretron/{helper}') adequate?)
• exploring creating challenges for web & electron

Inspiration

This project is inspired by a number of others:

• The original terminal-based packages for creating NodeSchool workshops: adventure & workshopper.
• jlord's awesome git-it-electron workshop.
• shader school & webgl-workshop by hughsk & mikolalysenko

Why make this?

After making javascripting and running a few nodeschool events, I've found that folks struggle with reading all the instructions in the terminal. In part this can be due to various cross-platform issues with specific versions of node. Additionally, trying to have colorized terminal output that is accessible for everybody seems weirdly difficult.

Electron can help with this. git-it-electron is a great example of how we can have clear, readable instructions in a cross-platform desktop app that still encourages people to learn using the same tools they'd regularly use doing this kind of work.

Open Questions

This is still early in development, so there are a few undecided elements of this project that you might be able to help with. Each item below has a corresponding issue.

Would a different name be better?

I like imagining a robot named adventuretron adventuring around the interwebs teaching technology & advancing digital equity. But it's not really a clear name. It does reasonably portray the origins and prior art of the project: a package based on adventure that depends on electron. Your thoughts? Issue #1

Are you trying to make workshops that run as both websites & electron apps?

There are some file system limitations to building apps that work on the web compared to building them as electron apps. But maybe those can be overcome? Issue #2

What should the API/usage of adventuretron look like?

I expect there will be separate adventuretron modules for the main electron process and the renderer process. See an early sketch of how the API might look: Issue #3

What do you need to make localization easy?

Based in part on the i18n implementation in the workshopper-adventure module, I'm making localization in adventuretron a high priority. What will make translating adventuretron apps easiest for you? Issue #4

Dependencies

The main dependencies of Adventuretron are electron & choo.