Cato's Hike for Android

I purchased this for my kid. Since I am a programmer I thought that this would be good tool to teach him some programming. He did not like it and complained that he was confused. I tried it and after the first two steps in the tutorial I was confused as well. I tried for twenty or thirty minutes to try and figure out what I was supposed to do. But I couldn't figure it out even though I have almost 30 years of experience as a programmer. I would not recommend this app. It will probably discourage a child from ever developing an interest in programming. This app needs refinement of its instructions and tutorials.

This is a very expensive education game not to work properly... Lightbot is priceless but it is half the price with double the value. My issue is that the dialogue screen in the tutorial doesn't show the symbols/buttons to which it refers. For example- it look something like this: "Choose the ⬜️ to create a loop. True ⬜️⬜️ False⬜️⬜️ Turn using ⬜️ menu and ⬜️." This is how the entire tutorial shows up on my Mobile. (I am using it on a new model Mobile mini, updated with current iOS 7.1.1) Playing this myself, (I'm 34) the tutorial is somewhat self evident because the code is already written for you, and you just have to choose it and press play. But going on to level 2 and 3, I only know how to walk, turn and loop back to the beginning. I don't see anyone else with this issue. I have cleared my runtime memory and have re-downloaded the app to make sure it wasn't something wrong on my end. But the same thing happened. Help please! The app is useless for the children without the tutorial. It's useless for me too! I will immediately change my review if this is fixed, as I think it is a promising app.

Cato's Hike is an excellent way to introduce anyone -child or adult- to the basic concepts and logic of computer programming. Through a fun "game," you learn the fundamental logical framework that forms the foundation of every program and every programming language. In playing with this app, you learn a computer language without even realizing it. Instead of using text "commands," you use symbols to program your character to accomplish her task. If you "get" the concepts presented in this game and master them, you're well on your way to being a "real" computer programmer for fun or profit. The program could be improved by integrating the tutorial into the gameplay levels, rather than by presenting all the concepts in the tutorial upfront. Nonetheless, this is a truly exceptional learning tool to introduce computer programming to anyone.

I bought this game thinking my kids (8 yr old girl and 13 yr old boy) would enjoy it. They do. But so do I! We are all wanting to play, and frequently all try to solve the levels together, or see the different decisions we made. I find some of the levels quite challenging. So challenging, in fact, that I desperately wish there was context sensitive help, or a hint button, or a sample solution/explanation. If they provide that, then 5 stars. But really, this "game" is awesome for anyone interesting in learning programming skills or seeing if they enjoy this sort of brain work.

Crashes every time I try to play the tutorial.