Gakken announced that it will release the Make Rockman programming education book in Japan on November 5, 2020. The Japanese press release also confirmed that the Mega Buster-shaped customizable robot kit will be released on the same day. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]
This project is aimed at teaching programming to children by using assets from the classic 8-bit Rockman (Mega Man) games. Images and audio files used in the actual games will be provided for free for educational purposes. The asset pack will also include the Mega Buster sound effect and Air Man’s stage BGM.
The book will explain the game programming in steps, starting from placing Mega Man on the screen, making him move and attack, to creating stages and boss battles. The programming process will be explained by using Studuino:bit, a Scratch 3.0-based software developed by the robot kit maker Artec.
Make Rockman also set a new record in the Japanese crowdfunding site Makuake for being the fastest project to reach its funding goal. This project surpassed its initial goal of 1 million yen in just 40 minutes. With all other early discounts already sold out, the only available tier right now is the 22,000 yen tier, which cuts 550 yen off the retail price. This crowdfunding campaign will remain open until October 20, 2020.
Make Rockman will be available publicly on November 5, 2020. The full set that contains a robot kit and a book will retail at 22,550 yen. Although the Japanese programming education book can also be purchased separately at just 2,750 yen from Amazon Japan, it doesn’t seem like the book can be directly shipped outside Japan for the time being.
