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Ask HN: Platform for 11 year old to create video games?

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Re: Ask HN: Platform for 11 year old to create video games?

#171

Post by empressplay »

Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #95

This is a surprisingly crowded space. Aside from the big names like Scratch, Blockly, Roblox and (to an extent) Minecraft Education. There are heaps of projects out there created by educators who wanted to improve their own course. One particular example I was quite impressed with was Blockly -> Unity: https://app.code-it-studio.de/course/step/4/44 I've worked in this space a lot: professional game development, led E…

That's why ideally game making is a collaborative activity -- if they make something with at least one other person, there's at least some communal appreciation for the effort.

Re: Ask HN: Platform for 11 year old to create video games?

#172

Post by svec »

I highly recommend Scratch! I wrote a post of the resources that my kid used. It's the lowest friction way I know of to get kids actually creating something fun, with a pretty fast fast feedback loop.

https://chrissvec.com/scratch-resources/

On there I recommend 2 excellent tutorial series by Digipen that got my kid started, and then a higher level "Scratcher" to follow who has excellent tutorials that are more advanced than the Digipen series.

Re: Ask HN: Platform for 11 year old to create video games?

#175

Post by danielvaughn »

bentt wrote: post #116

Been a pro gamedev for 20+ years. You have a born game designer on your hands. It is important to not assume this means they are super interested in programming. They may be, but game design is its own thing. HN will skew you towards programming first, naturally. Check these out: - Adventure Game Studio ( https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/ ) - Twine ( https://twinery.org/ ) And these have more visual ways of prog…

Seconding the Dreams recommendation. It's incredible.

Re: Ask HN: Platform for 11 year old to create video games?

#176

Post by noblox »

Arelius wrote: post #166

Roblox and Fortnite UEFN are both platforms that have a lot of batteries included, and nice around building. Roblox is longer invested, but Fortnite has much better constructed financial incentives. But they are both code platforms, luau for Roblox and verse for Fortnite (maybe it has BP support) UE is good, has BP, and it’s nice to be using pro tools from an empowerment perspective. I’d maybe pick a starter game to…

Strongly recommend against Roblox, as it's got a pretty long history of being predatory towards children through marketing, sales cuts, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Platform for 11 year old to create video games?

#177

Post by jhbadger »

Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #95

This is a surprisingly crowded space. Aside from the big names like Scratch, Blockly, Roblox and (to an extent) Minecraft Education. There are heaps of projects out there created by educators who wanted to improve their own course. One particular example I was quite impressed with was Blockly -> Unity: https://app.code-it-studio.de/course/step/4/44 I've worked in this space a lot: professional game development, led E…

>Look at all the games that flop on Steam each year. These are made by professionals. It's disheartening for kids when the thing they've worked hard on simply isn't fun — particularly when they share it with friends and are met with, at best, a shrug.

Why should this be a concern? Should people not paint for fun if their pictures aren't museum-worthy? Should they not play basketball just because they aren't NBA material? The point of doing something yourself is to do it, not to compete with professionals.

Re: Ask HN: Platform for 11 year old to create video games?

#178

Post by singhrac »

Scratch is great. I learned Scratch as a ~11 year old and it sparked a love of building things that brings me joy even today.

I think the reason Scratch was good is that it channels your interest in building something fun and interactive and gives you a limited set of tools to figure it out, like "how do I make bullets?" -> understand how the touch event works. But it doesn't force you to do that much of it, unlike a real game engine (Unity/Godot are nice for later but not a first introduction I think).

Also one of the best things about making a video game as a kid is you can show it to your friends! Getting feedback and navigating your limits is a great learning experience ("no, that's not possible because...").

Re: Ask HN: Platform for 11 year old to create video games?

#179

Post by noblox »

grahamj wrote: post #52
hyperbolablabla wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Concur with other comments here when I say: do not throw your child into this incredibly exploitative community

I’ve read about these concerns but my kid is 11 and on there all the time, often with me over her shoulder, and I’ve never seen any sign of it. It’s a huge platform for kids so I’m sure there are some creeps but there are plenty of controls in place to deal with that and even so, again, I’ve never seen it.

The creeps are only part of the problem. The platform itself is deeply exploitative and harmful. It's full of "you can make games and get rich" messaging that's just a lie. To say nothing of even if you are successful, they will take a staggering cut, and may not pay at all.

Keep your kids as far from Roblox as you can.

Re: Ask HN: Platform for 11 year old to create video games?

#180

Post by amjoshuamichael »

danielvaughn wrote: post #175
bentt wrote: post #116

Been a pro gamedev for 20+ years. You have a born game designer on your hands. It is important to not assume this means they are super interested in programming. They may be, but game design is its own thing. HN will skew you towards programming first, naturally. Check these out: - Adventure Game Studio ( https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/ ) - Twine ( https://twinery.org/ ) And these have more visual ways of prog…

Seconding the Dreams recommendation. It's incredible .

I don't think Dreams gets enough credit because it came out at the end of the PlayStation 4's life and it didn't get a lot of marketing, but it absolutely is fantastic. I'd say it's the best implementation of visual scripting I've ever seen, and that's using a traditional game controller (or two PSMove controllers) instead of a mouse/keyboard. That's not even including the modeling tools or music tools.

As someone who makes games, I often hear people ask me "how do I get started?" And my first answer is always "learn C." When they look at me funny, I say, "Try Dreams on Playstation."

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