Stagecast Creator facts for kids
Stagecast Creator is a special computer program that helps kids learn how to code. It uses a fun method called "programming by demonstration." This means you show the program what you want it to do, instead of writing lots of complicated code.
You can use Stagecast Creator to make cool simulations, animations, and even games! These creations can run on any computer that uses Java.
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How Stagecast Creator Started
The program we now call Creator actually began as a project at Apple, way back in the 1990s. It was first named KidSim and was created by Allen Cypher and David Canfield Smith. Their big idea was to make it super easy for kids to build their own computer simulations. They wanted programming to be something anyone could do!
KidSim used a unique way of programming: you created rules by showing examples. Imagine drawing a "before" picture and an "after" picture to tell the computer what should happen.
From KidSim to Cocoa
In 1994, the project got a new manager, Kurt Schmucker, and a new name: Cocoa. It also became more focused on the internet, because the internet was becoming popular. They called it "Internet Authoring for Kids."
Cocoa had a few releases:
- DR1 (Developer Release 1) on October 31, 1996
- DR2 in June, 1997
- DR3 in June, 1998
Later, in 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple. Some teams at Apple, including the one that made Cocoa, were changed. The creators of Cocoa, Larry Tesler, Allen Cypher, and David Smith, decided to leave Apple. They started their own company called Stagecast Software and took the Cocoa system with them. That's how it became Stagecast Creator.
Apple later used the name "Cocoa" for a completely different part of their software, called Cocoa application framework.
Stagecast Software stopped selling Stagecast Creator on September 30, 2014. Support for the program ended on December 1, 2014.
How Stagecast Creator Works
Stagecast Creator is built around the idea of independent characters. Think of these as little actors in your computer world. Each character has its own look and special qualities.
Every character also has a list of rules that tell it how to behave. You create these rules by showing the character what to do in a certain situation. Each rule is like a "before and after" picture. It says: "When things look like this (before), then do this (after)."
Making a Character Walk and Jump
Let's imagine you want to make a character walk across a field and jump over rocks.
1. Build the scene: First, you'd create your playfield with grass and a few rocks. 2. Place your character: Put your character on the grass. 3. Teach it to walk: Double-click the character to open its rule editor. The editor will show the character standing on the grass. You then drag the character to a new spot, like one step to the right. This creates a rule: "If on grass, move right." 4. Test it: If you start the simulation now, your character will walk until it hits a rock. It stops because it doesn't know what to do next! 5. Teach it to jump: Open the rule editor again. Now, it shows the character stuck next to a rock. You then show it how to jump: first, move up and right, then down and right. This creates a rule: "If next to a rock, jump over it." 6. Watch it go: Now, your character will walk, jump over rocks, and keep going!
You can keep adding rules to make your simulation more detailed. For example, you could add rules to make the character walk left, or even wrap around the screen.
Making a Game
You can also turn your simulation into a simple game! Instead of the character moving automatically, you can change the rules so it only moves when you press certain keys, like the arrow keys or the spacebar.
Cool Features Added Over Time
As Stagecast Creator grew, it gained many new features:
- Jars: A way to group similar objects together.
- 3D space: A special "z-variable" that let you create layers, making it seem like a 3D world.
- Control multiple characters: You could make more than one character move at the same time.
- Smoother animation: The screen could redraw only after all characters had moved, making things look smoother.
To make sure Creator could run on many different computers, the whole system was rewritten in the Java programming language. This meant that Stagecast Creator simulations could even be put on a website and run directly in your web browser!
Other Programs Like This
If you like the idea of visual programming and making your own games or stories, you might also be interested in these programs:
- ToonTalk
- AgentSheets
- AgentCubes
- Scratch
- Alice
