Student vs Free differences

I have been trying to locate a piece of information and have yet to find an answer. What is the difference between the free mode and the course mode in terms of levels available?

So far, the best answer I can find is in this post by Hinkle. However, it says about the free mode. “This will give access to much of the same content as the courses mode…” and describes how the student course mode does offer help videos and ensures students always have the right gear. The “much of the same content” is what I am confused by. Are the levels available the general free mode the same as what is seen in the first course mode?

Also, if students sign up as part of my class (and join the course mode), can they still access the free mode and the differences it provides (having to choose gear creates a challenge for students) if they want?

As a student in the course mode, can they sign up for the “Adventurer” option to play test levels?

Just some questions I have had a hard time confirming answers too.

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@Mythbadger I am sure the staff has better answers then I but I believe from what I read so far I might have some answers:

Read this post: Still very confused about what needs to be paid for
[updated link: 2016-09-02 15:49EST]

1. What is the difference between the free mode and the course mode in terms of levels available?

- I think the course mode gives access to specific levels and training material so that when in a teaching environment the students are following a specific course of levels. If there are level overlaps, specific teaching levels not available without the course mode I am not sure.

- The free mode currently allows one to access 5 campaign worlds with over two hundred levels. As well as 4 additional Campaign worlds for Web Development and Game Development

 

2. if students sign up as part of my class (and join the course mode), can they still access the free mode

- Yes. Free mode should be available period. I don’t see any reason why one would not be able to play the free levels.

 

3. As a student in the course mode, can they sign up for the “Adventurer” option to play test levels?

- This one has confused me as well. From what I can gather the “signup” might be a checkbox that requests level emails when new levels are being developed. But I have not seen any level content in my inbox.

- Anyone can play test levels anytime. To be an “Adventurer” follow facebook/twitter and the forums Artisan posts for new level submissions that are available. And just play them posting or messaging thoughts after you are done.

For example this is a post from someone submitting comments on a level: Burlbole Grove - adventurer feedback

I don’t see where there is any registered group of adventurers, it feels more like you just perform such a role and contribute.

- The same applies for the other roles defined on the wiki. Just start helping and posting to the forums.

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Thank you for the response Harry. I figured there had to be something out there helping explain it but I could not find it. As for the Adventurer option, I personally have signed up for that in the profile settings so hopefully students have that too. I figured I needed to find some answers before I release the class link.

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I only have the free account and these are the options available to me so I would safely assume if the check the Adventurer option, any emails for that would come to them:

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Okay, I found something I will need to contact Code Combat support about after your information Harry. I created a student account by clicking on the course share link from my teacher account. Once the account was created, when logged in it takes me straight to my class page and allows me to access the course. So far so good. It also allows me to access the contributor options. Bonus.

But then, I’ve tried to access the free content. I cannot find any way to get to the free levels. If I log out and go to the homepage, there is a yellow “Play now” that says “Learn to Code.” If I click on that, it takes me the page that shows the different worlds, says “Anonymous Player” at the bottom, and gives buttons to log in or sign up. If I log in, it takes me back to the student dashboard and only gives me access to the course mode.

It would appear that if a student joins my class, they need a separate account to access the roughly 145+ free levels that you would get as an individual (based on the discussion you linked me to). It would be a nice update to allow students to access the individual levels from their student accounts.

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@Mythbadger What happens when you go to this link directly logged in as the student who was signed up for the class?

This is the link that I use to access the independent track. (non course)

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Also sorry about the above link Still very confused about what needs to be paid for It was going to the 6th reply in the post, if you didn’t catch that, there was a lot more in that thread above.

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That worked. Talk about a work-around. I might still send in a suggestion that a link be added to the student profile page to allow students to access the free individual pathway more easily. Thanks Harry.

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It might be so that students don’t go off and stray from the course during class? No idea. But you can try the following link as well for the multiplayer:

Students can play VS rounds with each other after they are done with the class work. The multiplayer plays more like an online game of chess with each opponent submitting new code after simulation and challenging again with the new code. So each chess “move” becomes a new solution submission.

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We hide the /play option from students because when students play in both courses and the individual campaign, it can cause problems for them.

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Maka, are the problems tech related (as in it causes behind-the-scenes issues) or is more related to keeping them in the streamlined path of the course mode? I would prefer having my students do the course option, but being in a lower income school the budget to purchase additional licenses is not available for either them or me for everyone. I am planning on redirecting those students who are really enjoying it to the individual campaign when they successfully finish the free course, but will hold off if it causes tech issues.

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They are tech related, and some of that is described in the forum thread Harry linked to. We will eventually be preventing students and teachers from going to the individual campaign with their Teacher and Student accounts at all – they will, of course, be welcome to create a second account to access this content. If they go to /play pages with their student or teacher accounts, they will be redirected to their Student or Teacher landing pages.

Adventurer Levels

When we create levels (or someone in the community does), we will introduce the ones we think are ready for testing to Adventurer’s first. These levels have a purple dot on them and available to all players who have reach appropriate areas in the individual campaign AND also generally get announced in our Adventurer’s email which one of our Level Designers sends out each week.

Individual accounts (non-Student and non-Teacher) can subscribe to the Adventurer’s emails by visiting the settings page (https://codecombat.com/account/settings) or by visiting the Adventurer’s page (https://codecombat.com/contribute/adventurer).

There will also be times where we want to do additional testing and we will make content that is intended to be for paying customers, such as new course material, available to free players for a limited time.

At this time, there are no plans for Course-only levels (though there is other Classroom only material, such as curriculum, classroom activities, and more, planned). When a level is moved from testing (Adventurers), it will become either red (available to free players) or blue-star (available to subscribers only). It may also be moved into one of the courses.

Multiplayer levels, or Arenas are limited to a Class’ participants when part of a Course, and open to the public when added to the individual campaign.

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I apologize if I caused any confusion. Thank you for the clarifications.

So that is what the purple dot is about. I was wondering about that. Is there a way to determine which kind of account you have. I think I might have originally signed up as a student :disappointed_relieved:

-HW

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Thank you Maka. I do appreciate the help you and Harry have provided. I figured there might be a tech related issue. While I can understand making it easier for tech reasons, if there was a way to make it work, I can see some benefits beyond just reducing users to one account. For example, making course levels unique from the individual mode (instead of sharing levels like it appears to do now). Or adding an option to do the individual levels when they finish a course, and any shared levels are already completed. Maybe even a special set of gear or item for students who finished the course material.

From a teacher’s standpoint, asking middle school students to create a second account if they want to play levels beyond the 21 in the intro course (and the budget to purchase licenses for the 200+ students I see in just one year is not available so they can play the other courses), which then involves repeating levels they have done in the course, could turn off some.

For now, I’ll have those students who enjoy the site create their own account for the individual campaign.

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If there is an ability for them to save their work to notepad or such they could just reuse the code with copy-paste. Often in programming we have to use other peoples code and being accurate with pasting code segments could help them as well.

And there are “Top 10” rankings for each level. They could try and improve their code to get a higher score.

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Some helpful thoughts Harry, and a good reminder for my students that reinventing the wheel is not always needed.

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Hm, so you don’t receive weekly emails about “adventurer” levels, do you? Try to disable and enable check button here, maybe it will help.

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@Bryukh I actually did just that when I looked at the link posted by @maka. No idea why they are not coming in, but I will keep an eye for them. I have only been a member since June though, so perhaps that has something to do with it? Or maybe I signed up as the wrong account.

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It’s weekly. So should get them. Maybe they are in spam. Or a wrong email, but if you get “new levels published” weekly, then it’s ok.

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When I first signed up to play around with the site a year ago, I signed up for the Adventurer option. Definitely check your junk/spam email as I have gotten them weekly like Bryukh mentioned.

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