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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?

#371

Post by adamredwoods »

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 Scratch! My son started with it, then expanded into Roblox/Lua.

Children can download other people's games and experiment there. Scratch also has pre-made art, sounds, music.

https://scratch.mit.edu/

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

#374

Post by nirui »

jetbalsa wrote: post #286
nirui wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I modded a game (tho not hl) for many years, I come here to opposite this. I think since the kid is interested in building a game that they designed themselves, it's better to handover a (simple) game engine to him. A game engine enables way more possibilities than modding. You can add multiplayer over websocket/webrtc, you can write your own shader, you can write your game logic however you want etc. All of that wit…

Oh for sure, I would not suggest doing HL2 Engine Modding, I had suggested it because it has the lowest barrier of entry to get started for a someone that young. Basic Wiremod can make some rather complicated contraptions. and once you start going down the Lua route with a custom gamemode you can just about make anything, I've seen mario clones to RTS done with Garrysmod gamemodes

I see your point actually, I had a lot's of fun in Garry's Mod too playing people's creation.

My previous comment was more like a personal regret on my self that I failed to convert my modding experience into actual skill in game design/programming. I started it too late for me to relearn all the math and etc. I imagine my career will be a lot different if I started with the intention of designing an actual game.

Yeah, that's all :)

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

#375

Post by jhatemyjob »

jetbalsa wrote: post #79
jhatemyjob wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, a mod for Roblox, Garry's Mod, or Minecraft is the safest bet. Maybe there's another game I forgot

Garry's Mod + Wiremod is really easy to get into if you use Basic Gates or even Expressions, Its how I learned to program when I was 12 (back in Gmod 9)

Wiremod was too advanced for me lol. I went straight into Lua scripting making 5 second SWeps

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

#377

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

Rpg maker is a fun experience. Way simpler but can also become complex. I got into coding at 12 with that. You can do very little coding or a lot of coding, it helps figuring out which parts of the experience are fun.

It's available on steam

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

#378

Post by xtiansimon »

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 had two thoughts on this Ask (I don't have children, but I do have two nieces and constantly work to inspire them to creativity in the arts and sciences. I do care).

If your son is copying something else he's seen someone do, or if he's really into games and his friends also share this interest [1], then you can't beat the 2D approach. If you can find the right software, then you help him learn the software and he goes to town. He will need to adjust his ambition to what he can accomplish with the software. He already knows what he likes, and you're there to help him participate and get out of the way. ahaha

My other idea is there is an educational angle to "games" as a collection of skills and knowledge: problem solving skill of breaking a goal into parts. All games are in some form about probability, and *probability modeling* animations can be really cool. (I saw this post on reddit today [2]). Modeling is a great skill or tool in your toolbox. You can go really fast with this approach, and get to an abstract but interesting outcome. Maybe something that involves using a keyboard or mouse for interactivity and probability. If he loses interest, then maybe it wasn't going to last anyway, but you planted these educational seeds which can grow later.

[1]: I remember when I was his age, and I had five friends who lived six blocks from my house next to a park. We would get together to play touch football. I remember going over to this one kid's house trying to get him to come out and play football in the park, and he was showing us this 'computer' thing he had, Commodore64. I remember not having any of it, and we left. haha. That was _not_ my introduction to computers.

[2]: https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/comments/19bgdvr/th...

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

#379

Post by meristohm »

As an amateur game designer (nothing published, and if I ever did it would be free and targeted at educational environments- for example, I used Sid Sackson's Card Stock Market to help teach numeracy) I recommend sticking with tactile materials rather than computers, let alone 3D. For any age, but especially while young, to build those physical-mental connections. Computers are great diversions but they require such a deep infrastructure that I doubt they'll last very long.

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

#380

Post by chrismorgan »

icoder wrote: post #191
aleph_minus_one wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He doesn't want to CODE. He wants to make a game. Like every kid. [emphasis mine] Well, I as a child (say: 6-8 old) was really rather thinking deeply how a suitable way (what programmers would call "data structures" and "programming abstractions", "design of a programming languages" - but of course on a child's level) might look like so that the computer can "understand" and precisely execute my game ideas; my game…

When I was ~9 (maybe 8, maybe 10) I picked the GW-Basic book from shelf (my dad had that for some reason) and started reading. I was fist thick and mostly a summation of commands, so it did not made a whole lot of sense, but hey, I had a day off from school (or was on sick leave) and had already finished the (much thinner) MS-DOS book. And I just loved computers. Luckily when my dad came home he explained that we act…

> I picked the GW-Basic book from shelf (my dad had that for some reason) and started reading.

My Dad was a software developer. But for various reasons, he never initiated and practically never taught us anything about software development: but made sure that books were available, so that if it interested us, we could figure it out ourselves.

Well, I and my two elder brothers were each copying things from that BASIC book by the age of six or seven, and making up our own stuff within a couple of years, and we all ended up software developers. (None of my other siblings were at all interested.)

Most children around these ages probably don’t want to learn to code. But, as my dad puts it, there are some that, when they see what is possible, find the notion of making computers do what they want irresistible. We three all definitely wanted to learn to code.

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