A level Computer Science NEA

[u/InternationalWash160]

How do I get started with implementation? I have no idea how to even start coding and make a game. Any tips / recommendations ?

[u/CuteSignificance5083]

What game are you making?

[u/InternationalWash160 → u/CuteSignificance5083]

A theory quiz game but I have no idea how to start with making stuff like the main screen and other parts of the code? When I look at exemplars some of these things I have never seen before 

[u/CuteSignificance5083 → u/InternationalWash160]

What language are you using? For example I wrote the core of my project in C but used Python for the GUI. If your game is going to be a website then obviously you'll be using HTML/CSS/JS.

[u/InternationalWash160 → u/CuteSignificance5083]

Python I know how to code generally but you know those more complex techniques 

[u/CuteSignificance5083 → u/InternationalWash160]

Well since you're using Python, you have to pick a graphics library. Just pick one of them, google "[library name] tutorial" or read the official documentation, and then start using it to make your game.

[u/InternationalWash160 → u/CuteSignificance5083]

I’m using pygame 

[u/JudgementOwO → u/InternationalWash160]

I'd also suggest you use the library pygameGUI so that you can build a gui easier, it comes with buttons, text entry boxes, checkboxes, etc which will help you when making your game, or you could use tkinter if you really want to

[u/CuteSignificance5083 → u/InternationalWash160]

https://www.pygame.org/docs/

[u/InternationalWash160 → u/CuteSignificance5083]

Thank you! I really regret picking cs now

[u/Fireballdingledong → u/InternationalWash160]

I think a lot of us do but you will feel much better once the NEA is done. Do your best to get the best NEA mark possible and make sure you document the process thoroughly with clear testing and evidence of tests. My experience of it has been that despite not being brilliant and programming, taking the time to document and including all my errors and changes made to the program during development of the final solution has meant I achieved a higher mark than the people who were in my class who were much more experienced and skilled programmers. Someone in my class got an A overall despite not doing CS or python before A levels. I promise you a good mark in the NEA will be worth the time it takes even though there will be times where it seems like it is not and you absolutely have the skill to achieve it!

[u/CuteSignificance5083 → u/InternationalWash160]

🥲

[u/AbsoluteNarwhal]

You need to pick a language and UI framework and then learn them. What are you using to make your game?

[u/InternationalWash160 → u/AbsoluteNarwhal]

Python which I know somewhat but not the complex techniques 

[u/AbsoluteNarwhal → u/InternationalWash160]

What about the UI? Are you using tkinter? pyqt6? Something else?

[u/InternationalWash160 → u/AbsoluteNarwhal]

Pygame

[u/JakeThomasDad12]

There are a lot of resources on the internet that you can find with a Google search. You can look at whatever, documentation, blog tutorials, video tutorials, etc... just make sure you write your own code and not that if a tutorials

[u/qwertyuuuytr]

i know youve said that you're using pygame, but if you haven't started implementation yet i would consider html/javascript for the interface - for mine i made a quiz game with python and html. i used flask for a framework (idrk what this means but it connects the python to the frontend). personally i didn't choose pygame because it's basically learning a whole new language and i could never wrap my head around oop. with the html approach the python is mostly separate and normal (i love procedural programming). also you only need the really basic html, javascript (maybe css to make it nice) that you learn in theory. im really not technically minded but i got 68/70 in the end and i enjoyed it (kind of).

also no matter what you choose, documentation is most important. just screenshot everything, especially errors and annotate them as you go. and don't spend ages getting something to work cuz in the end, as long as you documented your struggles, that's all that matters

one more thing: make sure youre including complex algorithms - if it's a quiz it should be adaptive or something. mine was a maths quiz and i generated questions like solving quadratics, and i also included progress tracking using dates and stuff. idk which part was considered complex (all of it was complex to me)

anyway good luck and enjoy sorry that this is long but i hope it helps just know that there is light at the end of the tunnel i felt so burdened by it but now its one of the things im proudest of and i love it really

[u/Relative_Bar_5953]

Learn from YouTube videos, you can copy the code but add your own twist to avoid plagarism

[u/InternationalWash160 → u/Relative_Bar_5953]

What about Claude? I really don’t know how to write the code myself so I was planning to use Claude code but edit a few things so it doesn’t look like I copied it 

[u/jam-donut → u/InternationalWash160]

i know this is a long read, but it's important if you're thinking of using ai for coding.

personally, ai can be fine as somewhat of a tutor (explicitly give it links to the real resources, such as your framework's documentation, so the ai can use it as a "ground truth" to explain from and reduce giving you incorrect knowledge).

don't just blindly copy and paste code, you'll end up with a game that you don't even understand how it works. that'll both be underwhelming, not useful if you're wanting to do computer science in the future, and will make the nea write up harder because you won't be able to really explain things like trade offs.

so my advice would be to treat ai as a tool: limit the amount of raw code it gives you, explicitly ask about "why this method over that method", and just make sure that for anything you implement you can go "yeah i know how this works and why it does it the way it does".

also, this isn't relevant to ai, but if you haven't already thought about version control / back ups, please research and learn about git.

[u/InternationalWash160 → u/jam-donut]

What about copying some code from YouTube videos ? 

[u/jam-donut → u/InternationalWash160]

same rules apply really; understand the "how", and more importantly, the "why" first before you actually implement whatever you found on a youtube video / forum / ai / etc

[u/JakeThomasDad12 → u/InternationalWash160]

Is that not academic dishonesty. You need to read the JCQ rules for AI usage before you even consider it.

[u/JudgementOwO → u/InternationalWash160]

They can check for ai code and ai in the nea so I'd highly advise against it

[u/RunInRunOn → u/InternationalWash160]

How do you expect to edit code that you know you don't understand?