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

> YOUR SON DOES NOT WANT TO LEARN TO CODE (right now)

This. 100% this.

He wants a game, that he can tell himself and everyone that it is His and he wants you to do it for him. He does not want coding to show up in the way!

Take this as a chance to show him that he can build things, the way he wants it. Make an effort and let him see it. Give him a taste for it. There's wisdom in that quote about longing for the vastness of the sea to make good sailors.

There will be joys in small wins. It will surely never complete. But he and you both will cherish the wild imagination that comes with something like this.

Hello,

I would like to share my experience with my son, who is now 11 years old.

I introduced him to video games using emulators of old video games when he was 5 or 6 years old. We played together, and naturally, he developed a strong passion for video games. Playing together with video games was a stepping stone from earlier games, like Lego.

As he grew curious, he started asking me questions such as, "Have you ever made a video game? How difficult is it? Can you teach me?" In response, I provided him with context on how computers work and found some engaging books from the 80s on computers with good illustrations.

Later on, when he had a basic understanding of mathematics, I introduced him to Scratch. After playing together, he began creating his own projects. As his interest deepened, he expressed a desire for more, after some searches I've found that there was a videogame called "Game Builder Garage" for the Nintendo Switch, which I gave him as a Christmas present.

Similar to our experience with Scratch, we started playing together, and eventually, I let him explore and create on his own, leading to impressive results. He also began playing Minecraft, another excellent resource for children to develop creativity when supervised by adults. We spent time building various structures together.

Now, he has asked me to teach him how to code. I was initially concerned that coding might be tedious and frustrating for a 11-year-old, potentially taking away the fun. However, I found a Python book titled "Python Coding for Kids," and we began coding together, following the initial chapters. To make it more interesting, he suggested creating stats for Dungeons & Dragons characters, and we collaborated on such projects.

While he may not yet be able to code independently, he has acquired foundational knowledge about how things work in the field of coding.

Most importantly, we had a tremendous amount of fun together, and I had the pleasure of witnessing his skills grow.

I would encourage you to follow your own path and find tools that match your child's abilities.

Daniele

code.org has a game builder and a course. Might be too much for a 9 year old, but if you learn it, you could have him tell you want to do. Theres even an art and animation tab.

Looks like you will have a new hobby to share with the kid, try and enjoy yourself and help the kid to have fun with it all. Two tracks which aren't mutually exclusive. One he needs to get into blender to work with 3D images, I've been told there are lots of guides and tutorials. Second maybe start with a 2D old school game just to get a handle on the mechanics of getting something onto the screen. I'd suggest he needs to learn how to read and do research. His generation will want to watch video tutorials but those are time consuming vs what you actually learn. I'd guess the videos will be good to get an overview of all the parts of modern game development.

Since this is a developer forum, and people will tend not to bring it up: See if what they actually want to do is make art for games. It sounds like they've been busy doodling on paper. Games are often basically just pictures, music, and other creative assets glued together.

In that case, just go find the tool that seems to require the least programing for what they want to build.