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Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

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Re: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

#101

Post by nirui »

jetbalsa wrote: post #78

I would say Garry's Mod + Lua Scripting / WireMod Easy to get into since its rather old at this point and its easy to get bootstrapped with simple logic in WireMod, Its how I learned programming, has multiplayer and really supports messing around.

I modded a game (tho not hl) for many years, I come here to opposite this.

I think since the kid is interested in building a game that they designed themselves, it's better to handover a (simple) game engine to him. A game engine enables way more possibilities than modding. You can add multiplayer over websocket/webrtc, you can write your own shader, you can write your game logic however you want etc. All of that without the overhead/limitation of a modding environment.

Also, out in the wild the job opportunity for Garry's Mod developers is very scarce, if any. Just something to think about if op wants to do some carrier development for the kid while having fun.

Re: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

#103

Post by orthoxerox »

EsportToys wrote: post #88
keyle wrote: post #65

I've used many engines and shipped many games, including commercial titles (I don't derive a salary from the game industry, though). I think I'd recommend something like GameMaker. I've never used it myself, but it's a self contained IDE that has everything to make decent 2D games. I'd advise against the pitfall that 3D games lure you into. That includes engines that are 3D with a 2D "mode". There is so much leaky ab…

Seconded for Love2D, here's a sample of how simple it is to quickly whip up something in it: https://github.com/EsportToys/wireworld-love

I was going to write that Love2D had an unusual drawback if you wanted to teach it to a 9-year-old: lots of third-party libraries had sexualized names.

However, this is outdated, and none of the recommended libraries can raise unwelcome questions with their names: https://love2d.org/wiki/Category:Libraries

Re: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

#104

Post by blooalien »

Godot [1] is a very nice game engine. There's a game on Itch.io that teaches the scripting language it uses [2], and a ton of great tutorials on YouTube for beginners and experts alike.

[1]: https://godotengine.org/ [2]: https://gdquest.itch.io/learn-godot-gdscript

Re: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

#106

Post by mo_42 »

I think you’re looking for an open source game that is small, can be built and run, and your son likes already.

From there he can start tinkering with code and assets.

That way your son directly sees the results of his work. Creating an entire game from scratch even with the best tools might be too much in the beginning and he will lose interest.

Re: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

#107

Post by Benjaminsen »

Benjaminsen wrote: post #91

We are making a games creator that uses GenAI to make games from human input over at frvr.ai. It’s been a hit with my 10 year old nephew after the initial learning phase. We show the full source of what you create so you can also use it as a tool to learn coding. (A use case we will support better in the future) Happy to grand you access if you sign up and submit a developer application at https://beta.frvr.ai/creato…

Whoops just saw the 3D requirement which we do not support yet. For that I would go with Struckd which works on both mobile and pc

Re: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

#110

Post by blooalien »

shermozle wrote: post #64
Lariscus wrote: post #9

Just download the Godot engine[0] it's free and there are lots of tutorials on Youtube. The documentation[1] also has a tutorial that shows you how to create a small 2D and 3D game. To learn programming with gdscript there is this free course by gdquest.[2] [0] https://godotengine.org/showcase/ [1] https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/getting_started/intro... [2] https://gdquest.github.io/learn-gdscript/

This. My son has been doing some amazing things with Godot. For a 9yo, you might need to help. Take that opportunity.

> "For a 9yo, you might need to help. Take that opportunity."

Indeed. Quality time with yer kid and learn a potentially useful, maybe even profitable new skill right alongside 'em? Win, win.

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