Abstract:

Colobot is a 3D real time game of strategy and adventure. According to the information on http://colobot.info/colobot-gold-edition, unlike most real time strategy games (RTS), Colobot does not require tactics, but it does require thinking. Colobot actually has its own interpretation of robot programming, which is done fully by the player in a language called CBOT, together with a few hints and tips from the system. The game has received endorsements and awards for its educational capabilities, in teaching teenagers the basics of algorithms and commands similar to C++ and Java. After a valiant effort of the Polish Community, EPSITEC has provided the source code (Colobot Gold Edition) on a GNU GPLv3 License available for Windows and Linux platform.
The main goal of this paper is to present advanced Colobot possibilities in the range of object-oriented programming (OOP) education. According authors experiences, even first year computer science students have a lot of problems with understanding and proper use of the possibilities offered by OOP. The most of that properties can be perfectly shown using CBOT language. The paper describes the essential basics of CBOT and then shows some examples of custom class definitions and their use in the implementation of COLOBOT board. The presented examples were tested by junior high school student, for whom fun perfectly combined with education helped to understand the main mechanisms of OOP . This proves once again that the most effective is to learn through play and Colobot (or Colobot Gold Edition) is the right tool for that purposes thanks to its programming aspects.

Keywords:

Learning tool, colobot, object oriented programming.