Hey everyone, so I have been using scratch for about 7 years now, and I know the program very well. I know how to put time into making a game that I can be proud of (and never finishing it to publish online), but I've been wondering… what do I do after Scratch?

I want to continue making games similar to the ones that I make on here, only with more complicated programs that use JavaScript or some other programming language.

I've been learning on codecademy how to program JavaScript, but I'm unsure how to compile that code and create in similar ways to Scratch.

If you guys know what I should take as my next step into programming video games, please reply to this thread.

You may want to learn Stencyl, which is like Scratch but more advanced and is dedicated for game development. I tried creating some games with it but gave up.

bbdoodle wrote:

I've been learning on codecademy how to program JavaScript, but I'm unsure how to compile that code and create in similar ways to Scratch.

You do not need to compile javascript. You just need a way to view it. Javascript works in the browser. I am pretty sure Codeacademy uses the Canvas. Look up some info on how to run your codeacademy JS in a canvas. I am not 100% sure that this is true, but im guessing this is how it is.

I am pretty sure that right now you are learning how to program Javascript logic and running it in the console (on Codecademy) but that is just text and you can't do any graphics. You can make simple, cool, HTML5 Canvas and Javascript games pretty easily. Basically, Javascript would do all the logic and HTML5 Canvas gives you a way to draw things to the screen (like Scratch does automatically). Just Google “HTML5 Canvas Javascript Tutorial” or something like that and there are many good websites that have a lot to teach! Javascript, I think, is a great second language to learn and using HTML5 Canvas you can make semi-professional looking games. I've done some stuff with HTML5 Canvas and Javascript so I can try to answer more questions if you have them. Good luck!

Codecademy does teach Java (very different from JavaScript, by the way), which, if you want to program outside of Codecademy, does require a compiler. If you do Java, you're going to need the JDK, and while you can compile from the command line, this is highly discouraged. So, you'll also need an IDE (integrated development environment). I personally use Eclipse, but some people dislike it and prefer others, such as Netbeans or IntelliJ Idea. If you're unsure, do some research and see what works best for you (but like I said, Eclipse works fine for me). I would start with Codecademy's lessons on Java first and not worry about all of this until you feel comfortable enough to move on. If you do, I'd be happy to help if you need it.

A note on Codecademy- from my experience, most of what's taught on there is meant for web-based programs, so if you're into website development it's the perfect place to gain those skills. If you're truly a beginner, start with HTML, go onto CSS and then JavaScript. jQuery's probably the next logical step, but apparently you can do that before JS (and you'll get more immediate results; jQuery works with graphics and animations, where JS seems to be mostly behind-the-scenes stuff as far as Codecademy goes).

But let's say you want to make games and stuff, and you're pretty comfortable with JS (or you're going to learn it for that). In that case, you can use Khan Academy instead. On Khan Academy, you can do HTML and CSS as well, plus ProcessingJS (dunno what that is to be honest) and SQL (databases). Also in the computing section of Khan Academy, you can learn more about computer science, such as algorithms and information theory. Algorithms uses JS, but once you learn other languages, it's not too hard to ‘translate’ it; I had a binary search assignment in my Java class but I didn't understand the code given in class enough to implement it. So, I found that in the algorithms section of Khan Academy, remembered enough JS to finish the interactive tutorial through trial and error, then simply wrote out the program in Java syntax. Also, search around a bit on Khan Academy. They are LOADED with neat stuff.

Anyways, all that should be enough to get you looking in the right direction, so I'll shut up for now. Hope this was helpful!

Learn python. Or java. Both of them are great languages. That will most likely be used more and more in jobs.

Well, you can learn Love2D, which is an *awesome* framework for Lua that you can use to make 2D games!

If you don't know how to use Lua, look it up here!

sxsaxAr+waxBr-*

Javascript is a great next step after Scratch, and S2JS is a web site aimed specifically at helping scratch people transition into Javascript.

S2JS explains Javascript in terms of Scratch, showing sample bits of scratch code and how to achieve the same result in Javascript. It's a tutorial, development environment and deployment platform in one. It teaches “standard” Javascript so what you learn is generally applicable. S2JS shows how to build games using Javascript and the HTML canvas that your friends can play directly on their smartphones.

S2JS isn't a final destination - it's a bridge that helps you make the leap from Scratch to more regular programming languages starting with Javascript. Free.

Thank you guys for all the input! I'll be sure to read all your replies and see what I can do next.