What to expect from: Game Dev Academy
We have a plethora of different mentors, clubs and resources to help you get started on your coding journey. So in this blog, we wanted to give you a rundown of what to expect from our Game Dev Academy, our latest new way of learning to code for flexi-learners.
At The Code Zone, we have a plethora of different mentors, clubs and resources to help you get started on your coding journey. So in this blog, we wanted to give you a rundown of what to expect from our Game Dev Academy, our latest new way of learning to code for flexi-learners.
What makes Game Dev Academy different from our other Game Dev offerings; the benefit of coding and learning at a pace and a time that suits you. Every Monday, you will get access to a brand new fully working game along with it is code for you to tinker with and modify.
Within the game itself, you will find your Code Zone code card which will have some instructions and ideas on how to make fun and unique changes to the game through coding.
As soon as you sign up, you will be assigned your personal mentor who will guide you through your learning with videos and messages. When you get access to the new content, you will also receive a detailed video which will go through how to play the game, how to make the changes in the code card as well as some hints and tips for your coding.
Receive regular updates from your mentor as they review the coding work that you do throughout the week - helping you to maximise your learning whilst also providing answers to any questions or queries you may have.
And don't worry about running out of content - as half way in the week your mentor will provide some extra challenges for you. This will give you the opportunity to flex your new coding skills whilst also giving us an insight to how you are improving so we can move you up the levels as you advance in your coding know-how and confidence.
Though you will be working at your own pace with your mentor, you will still get the opportunity to see how the others in the Game Dev Academy are doing.
Get the chance to share your work amongst other coders and see what our other members have been up to each Friday when your mentor shares a variety of games worked on throughout the work in their Friday Round Up Video.
Send messages to your mentor and offer up ideas that they can pass on to our other members - we want you to be a part of the Game Dev community, regardless of which coding journey you take with us!
Find out more about our clubs by getting in touch with our helpful and friendly customer service team; they have all the information you need to book the right coding package for you. Try from just £25 a month with Game Dev Academy and also get Minecraft Mod Worlds completely FREE!
Who wrote this
We run coding clubs for children aged 6 to 16, so the guides here are written by the mentors who teach them rather than by a marketing team. Live online clubs are open to children anywhere in the UK, and our in-person clubs run across Essex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.
A live club is one hour a week, in a group of no more than six, with the same DBS-checked, STEM-certified mentor.
Children build their own games rather than working through a set course, starting in Scratch or MakeCode and moving to Python and TypeScript when they are ready. More than a third of our members are autistic or have ADHD, based on what parents tell us when they join.
Mentors write a note on every child after every session, which is how we know when somebody is ready to move up a level or would rather stay where they are. Levels move down as readily as up. Nothing is forced, and staying put is a perfectly good outcome.
In 2026 we were ranked second in the UK in Club Hub UK’s Top 100 Children’s Activity Providers, scored by five independent judges on safeguarding, inclusivity and community impact, and in 2025 we received the Autism Inclusion Award from the National Autistic Society. Over 1,000 children are enrolled.
More like this
The blog is in two halves. Guides are the evergreen explainers written by the mentors who teach the clubs, covering the questions parents actually ask: what comes after Scratch, how to support a coding-mad child when you cannot code yourself, and what works for autistic and ADHD children.
Club news is the other half, and it is where posts like this one live: game jams, Minecraft builds and weekly roundups, written up by whoever ran the session. Neither is marketing. If you want to know what an hour actually looks like before you book anything, club news is the more honest read of the two.
The first session is a free taster and we do not ask for card details. Book a free taster session, see what it costs, or read about support for neurodivergent children.
