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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?

#241

Post by kfrzcode »

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…

Side thread: do you have suggestions for "validation testing" when it comes to gameplay -- not playability or fun factor, but more ... objective and mathematical? I'd like to "lint" the game, so to speak, as a formalized system in various states and I'm curious about how that is done in game dev

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

#242

Post by kfrzcode »

helboi4 wrote: post #187
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…

I used to use GameMaker when I was exactly 9 so I would definitely recommend it. Scratch always seemed like it was not at all made to acheive any sort of playable game but GameMaker has a low barrier to entry but can make real stuff. I would try my best to convince him that he might have to learn to make something scaled down and 2D first, and as others have suggested, talk to him about his bigger vision game and bra…

psh RPGTK for life

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

#243

Post by apexedison »

We built an editor for making simple (but complete and fun) games to help young folks (or anyone) learn to code.

It's at sprig.hackclub.com

If your son shares the game publicly as a PR we'll send him materials to build a console that can play it. We've had hundreds of kids around the world share games you can check out in the gallery.

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

#244

Post by earlyriser »

My kid (10yo) started programming in Scratch 2 years ago. He have been doing stuff in Scratch, dabbling a bit with the Microbit and doing some mods for Minecraft. A while on pico8, but he doesn't enjoy it.

I'd suggest start with something really small for programming. Like most of Scratch basic challenges. Also, for modeling, checking the 2 or 3 basic MCreator videos plus Blockbench tutorials is enough to start creating mods in Minecraft, something simple as adding a new mineral is a groundbreaking moment.

I asked for permission to share his website with his games https://emiliomg.xyz The cactus/dinosaur game is a perfect starter project that could be rough, but also you can conitnue adding game juice to the infinite.

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

#245

Post by ciroduran »

May I suggest Bitsy? https://bitsy.org/

Depending on your son's interests, he might be more oriented towards telling stories, Bitsy allows to write stories and dialogues. The tool has some restrictions on what you can do, so you can focus on the story and the conversations you can make (the dialogue tool is very good!)

The result then can be converted to html and uploaded to itch. Bitsy jams are very popular.

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

#247

Post by underdeserver »

soci wrote: post #131
fn-mote wrote: post #42

Understand that you're not going to finish what you start. Do things that are fun. Keep a notebook of ideas. Talk about plans and what you want do. Spend time with him. Even if almost none if it ever makes it into code, the imagination part will be going wild. Look at what he's really doing. He doesn't want to CODE. He wants to make a game. Like every kid. Emphasize the creative part just like he wants. Do things on…

I wish I had read your comment 5 years ago when my son wanted to build a utterly complex game in Scratch. I ended “coding” the game, almost on my own, because it was boring for him, and the result did not resemble what my toddler wanted/imagined. Of course he was imagining an AAA game built in Scratch… If anything good, the learning for him was building games is hard, and lost interest trying further. Great advise!

Not sure that's good. Yeah it's hard to build a AAA game, but you can still have a lot of fun building a smaller game, and people put out really impressive stuff in Ludum Dare (a 72-hour build-a-game-from-scratch event).

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

#248

Post by GolDDranks »

Use Multimedia Fusion or Construct. The former is what I started with, and the latter is a modern iteration of that. Alternatively, Game Maker. If he hasn't been interested in computers before now, don't ruin the momentum, start from quick and easy, then introduce Lua scripting and if he's still interested, consider Unity or Unreal.

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

#249

Post by jahnu »

earlyriser wrote: post #244

My kid (10yo) started programming in Scratch 2 years ago. He have been doing stuff in Scratch, dabbling a bit with the Microbit and doing some mods for Minecraft. A while on pico8, but he doesn't enjoy it. I'd suggest start with something really small for programming. Like most of Scratch basic challenges. Also, for modeling, checking the 2 or 3 basic MCreator videos plus Blockbench tutorials is enough to start creat…

+1 for Scratch. I have had success with my kids (8 & 10) too. They can almost instantly build something they can reason about.

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

#250

Post by rmrfchik »

Show him Scratch. My 8 years old started to discover Scratch and in few month developed small funny games (like Clickers, Maze walkers or Side scrollers). Games are full of nonsense from programmer's point of view, but 1. It's working! 2. It gives fun! 3. Supports interest in programming.
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