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

We did some tutorials and a book[0] on using KaboomJS. One of them is a "3D" game but probably not in the sense you mean.

They probably need updating as Kaboom had a few updates, but I was surprised by how much the writers enjoyed making the games. A bit like building Flash games but without needing to add in all the free vulnerabilities.

Let me know if you try them!

[0] https://makejsgames.com/

He’s very young. I think starting with scratch would be nice. 3D is too complicated for a 9 year old and assets are expensive.

Side note: I was around the same age as your son when I was first introduced to Scratch. Although not a “real” programming language, it did help me grasp the logic and really gave me a head start years later when I actually started learning programming in Python.

A little off topic, but there’s a nice example of making a game with your kid in “Doom Guy” by John Romero. I enjoyed the book and it’s also a good accompaniment to “Masters of Doom.”

I'll also highly recommend GBG. My eldest had a good time building very creative things when he was about 9, and my younger son who is 6 has built a 3d platformer. i haven't a clue how to program it, but they pick it up easily! Also, they both love Scratch (not Jr) on a browser. Not 3D, but a great outlet for their ideas.

If it's just level building, then Super Mario Maker 2 (also Switch) and Levelhead (Steam, more accessible on Switch). There's also BQM (Steam,Switch) for isometric dungeon designing.

If it helps this was in broad terms my offspring's journey into programming. But remember that everyone learns differently. When he was 8 or 9 we started tinkering with an arduino set. Not so much programming but mostly connecting electronic bits and see what happens. From then, our heir sped through a game programming with python book and asked for more... but the interest was not so much to build a game engine rather build a game on an established engine. After much YouTubing, our first born made a short list between Unity, GameMaker and Unreal -- Unity won. From there it was very much a self taught journey. 6-7 playable games have been released, from a tiny 2D sidescroller, a 2D dungeon crawler, a 3D FPS, a 3D survival game, a multiplayer game like Towerfall Ascension,... the Works. Importantly sounds and graphics are original. I'm quite proud of the accomplishments. Adjust your expectations because it takes time, measured in years, not weeks! For our case in particular, dedication, concentration, and a healthy dose of tolerance for frustration, really helps to chug along.