Profile: CodeCombat

Authors

Rationale

CodeCombat is something that hits home for me. It’s a game that teaches how to code. And from what I’ve played of it, it seems to be a good game.

Organizational Details

  • Is the subject of your profile a corporate entity?
    • Yes
  • What type?
    • Education Institution
  • When was it founded?
    • 2013
  • By whom?
    • Nick Winter, George Saines and Scott Erickson
  • Original founder(s) still active?
    • Yes
  • Publicly Traded? Since when? Initial Stock Price? Current stock price?
    • No
  • Has the company made any acquisitions? If yes, which companies, and what were their core products?
    • No
  • Has the company made any investments in other companies? If yes, which ones.
    • No
  • Number of Employees?
    • 1-10
  • Where is HQ?
    • San Francisco, CA
  • Does it have any other offices or locations?
    • No
  • Website?
    • codecombat.com
  • Wikipedia?
    • Not on Wikipedia that I could find.
  • Does your organization file any annual reports? Please include links to any relevant documents (i.e. 990, Annual Report, Year in Review, etc...)
    • None that I could find.

Communications

Social media for CodeCombat

  • Does your subject participate in social media? If yes, please list a URL for each account, and reach within that community. (i.e. Twitter: @RedHatNews - 61.9K Followers.
    • @codecombat - 2,329 followers
    • https://www.facebook.com/codecombat?ref=br_rs - 5,865 likes
    • https://plus.google.com/115285980638641924488/ - 1,219 followers
    • https://www.linkedin.com/company/codecombat - 43

Communications channels for CodeCombat

  • What communication channels does your subject use to reach their public? Briefly describe and include a URL for each.
    • http://blog.codecombat.com/ - This is where they announce all of their new features and new programming tournaments.

CodeCombat conference participation

  • Does your subject organize or participate in any conferences? If so, list them here, and provide links to any relevant sessions, keynotes, or content.
    • No they do not.

Community Architecture

If applicable, list and provide links to:

  • The project's IRC Channel(Don’t use IRC)

    • https://www.hipchat.com/g3plnOKqa

  • Source Code repository

    • https://github.com/codecombat/codecombat

  • Mail list archive(No Mail list, but blog archive)

    • http://blog.codecombat.com/archive

  • Documentation

    • https://github.com/codecombat/codecombat/wiki

  • Other communication channels

    • http://discourse.codecombat.com/

  • Project Website and/or Blog

    • http://blog.codecombat.com

  • Describe the software project, its purpose and goals.

    • The goal of this project is create a game where kids can learn to code while completing levels. It’s not meant to teach you to be an engineer, but to teach you how to intensively practice the programming fundamentals.

  • Give brief history of the project. When was the Initial Commit? The latest commit?

    • Latest commit was 10 hours ago (as of 1/2/15 9:30am)

  • Who approves patches? How many people?

    • http://i.imgur.com/J1id9Yx.png

  • Who has commit access, or has had patches accepted? How many total?

    • http://i.imgur.com/J1id9Yx.png

  • Has there been any turnover in the Core Team? (i.e. has the top 20% of contributors stayed the same over time? If not, how has it changed?)

  • Does the project have a BDFL, or Lead Developer? (BDFL == Benevolent Dictator for Life)

    • The project has two lead developers.

  • Are the front and back end developers the same people? What is the proportion of each?

    • No they are different people. It looks like on the core team it’s pretty even. But as far as other contributors it’s hard to tell.

  • What have been some of the major bugs/problems/issues that have arisen during development? Who is responsible for quality control and bug repair?

  • How is the project's participation trending and why?

    • Trending up. They’ve had a lot of active users, especially with the trend of trying to get young students into STEM fields.

  • In your opinion, does the project pass "The Raptor Test?" (i.e. Would the project survive if the BDFL, or most active contributor were eaten by a Velociraptor?) Why or why not?

    • I would hope so, there are a ton of active developers.

  • In your opinion, would the project survive if the core team, or most active 20% of contributors, were hit by a bus? Why or why not?

    • Probably not. the most active 20% are people who are employed to create this game.

  • Does the project have an official "on-boarding" process in place? (new contributor guides, quickstarts, communication leads who focus specifically on newbies, etc...)

    • http://codecombat.com/contribute

  • Even if you’re learning how to code, there are other things that you can contribute to.

    • http://codecombat.com/cla

  • Does the project have Documentation available? Is it extensive? Does it include code examples?

    • yes to both https://github.com/codecombat/codecombat/wiki/Component

  • If you were going to contribute to this project, but ran into trouble or hit blockers, who would you contact, and how?

    • Message anyone their hipchat. Or create an issue on github.

  • Based on these answers, how would you describe the decision making structure/process of this group? Is it hierarchical, consensus building, ruled by a small group, barely contained chaos, or ruled by a single or pair of individuals?

    • barely contained chaos, there are over 200 issues.

  • Is this the kind of structure you would enjoy working in? Why, or why not?

    • I would enjoy working in this. I work really well in chaotic situations.

Technology/Product (Section adapted from EFF Worksheet)

  • Who invented, created, or sponsored the technology?
    • It was created for Google Summer of Code 2014.
    • https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/codecombat
  • What is the technology designed to do? How is it used?
    • Help kids learn how to code while playing a video game
  • Who would benefit from using this technology?
    • kids who are interested in programming
  • What kinds of companies or organizations (stakeholders) might have been concerned about the development of this technology? Why?
  • Does/Did an aspect of copyright law play a role in controversies about the technology? How?