261–270 of 391 posts
A few threads here recommend pico-8, however, you said he specifically wants the game to be 3D.
The developer of pico-8 has another project named Voxatron which is similarly accessible like pico-8, but for 3D gaming.
Worth a look: https://www.lexaloffle.com/voxatron.php
My kids were able to make complex 3D games at 9yo with very little help using Roblox Studio. It’s free. https://roblox.com/create Disclaimer: I work for Roblox Corp.
You also don't need Lua knowledge.
The games can run on desktop, mobile, and even console. Built-in multiplayer. Huge community. Lots of tutorials. It's pretty amazing, to be honest.
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 put on my engineering hat and saw a "problem" to be solved and a "solution" being a finished game...
And it's mutual, I want to spend time with him on something he's passionate about, but I made it into a problem I can solve.
Thank you!
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!
Anything else & you'll fail, because you're only one on the "team" understanding how things work! :D (not that it's generally a bad thing to fail.. there's always takeaway from that as well)
You can then build a minecraft plugin for some gameplay specifics.
everyhing else (unity, unreal, coding from scratch) will fail you way sooner than you think. imo.
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…
Wow, this is great advice. I never thought about it this way. I put on my engineering hat and saw a "problem" to be solved and a "solution" being a finished game... And it's mutual, I want to spend time with him on something he's passionate about, but I made it into a problem I can solve. Thank you!
It gave us time to go over programming fundamentals but for the most part we just had fun and came up with wacky content for players to progress through. Later, we went back and added static images.
One of the most satisfying things for him was being able to spin up his retro game at school for his friends to play.
It's very fun to use and it includes everything you need - sound, pixel art editor.
We started playing with it in 2020 and my kids still pick it up and make new little games themselves, without my help.
Downsides: 1) there is no coding at all so you are limited by the features it offers 2) another monthly subscription