My 7 year old wants to make a video game. Where do we start?

10 points by bramm 10 years ago | 17 comments

Like many others, my kid loves playing video games. But my kid also has a lot of ideas for how to make the games better, or different versions of those games.

Before thinking about what I was getting into, I said, "why don't we make our own?"

Now he asks me every day!

I'm a designer, with some front-end knowledge, but I know nothing about creating apps or games.

As far as platforms, iOS is probably our easiest route, but let me know. Should we go with Unity?

If you have other tips outside of just making the thing, I'd lover to hear those as well.

logfromblammo 10 years ago |

First, make the game. Then, make your game playable on a computer platform.

Do not make the technical decisions until you first understand the reasons why they need to be made.

Is the goal of this exercise to have a completed video game as the end result, or to have a child motivated to learn how to make such games? If the latter, it may be prudent to build up to the final product, by starting with "Hello World", implementing command-line interface "Tic-Tac-Toe" or "Hunt the Wumpus", moving on to a 2-D falling tetromino game, doing a simple 3-D demo, and so on.

But either way, the initial focus should be on making a fun game, and the details of the execution subordinate at all times to the question "Does this make it more fun to play?"

bramm 10 years ago | |

Yes, this is definitely a combination of learning, bonding, discerning interest level.

We've already began the planning and sketching stages, but we want to get our hands dirty soon.

No matter what the end result is, this will be a great learning experience.

dangerboysteve 10 years ago |

https://scratch.mit.edu for an introduction to programming your young people.

For simple cross platform maybe gamesalad.com

bramm 10 years ago | |

Thanks. I have a young relative that uses Scratch.

My kid has played a few different iOS games that are made to teach programming basics to kids (Hopscotch, Light Bot, etc).

I've also created some simple CSS animation stuff on CodePen for them to mess with colors, speed, etc.

I haven't heard of Gamesalad, I'll check that out.

avinassh 10 years ago |

I taught my nephew (8 year old) about making games and he is doing really well. I suggest Scratch[0] as well. I also enrolled him in the edx Scratch course and so far he is doing great solving assignments and quizzes. Usually he gets stuck when he is not able to understand the question (English is third language to us) and he skips those and continues the course. And every alternate days I sit with him for 2-3 hours and explain him the questions. I also got a PDF of the book Super Scratch Programming Adventure [2] (dead tree version isn't available in my country) and he loves it so far. He has made many games, as part of course and also on his own. He is proud of his accomplishments and I think thats great.

[0] - https://scratch.mit.edu

[1] - https://www.edx.org/course/programming-scratch-harveymuddx-c...

[2] - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1593275315

tugberkk 10 years ago | |

It would be awesome if we could also see those games, any available online?

avinassh 10 years ago | | |

sure, some of them are available here: https://scratch.mit.edu/users/sanjupokemon/

bramm 10 years ago | |

Thanks! That EdX course looks really helpful.

Impossible 10 years ago |

You might want to check out the current Humble Bundle, which includes a bunch of game making tools including Stencyl, RPG Maker VX, Play Canvas and App Game Kit, as well as ProMotion, Sprite Lamp and other art tools. You'll have to act fast as it ends in less than a day.

Unity3D is great but it will likely be overwhelming for a 7 year old and for you as well given your background.

bramm 10 years ago | |

Awesome thanks! I was looking at Stencyl.

kleer001 10 years ago |

Paper and pencil as an adjunct? Games exist in analog too. Maybe a Hoyle card game book, read it together, mark it up, come up with your own rules. All of this not an end unto its self, but a stepping stone to computer games. Maybe thinking of it as an ABC's of "games".

brudgers 10 years ago |

Building something like hangman in Racket would be straightforward for father son time. If your son enjoys the making it will be enough, if anything short of Xbox quality won't do, then you'll exceed his interest quickly and he can start on his next project.

Good luck.

err4nt 10 years ago |

Wow, that's so cool that you and your child can share this hobby and interest together. I'm a front-end dev who has dabbled with open-source game development before, so my advice is going to be a little different than the 'start small and build bigger' and more like 'start with one thing and expand your skill set'.

I got interested in graphic design as a teenager, and had tons of UI ideas about the desktop, software interfaces, etc. I also loved video games, so it wasn't long before I was trying to find ways to get my designs into the games I was playing.

The first time I ever realized a game could be modded was playing the DOS game Scorched Earth. You control little tanks that shoot each other (like Worms) and when you die they say a quote. Our computer teacher at school had modified the text file to include school-specific quotes and I knew that not every version of the game was like that.

Many PC games have active modding communities. I was a young teenager as Quake3 mods were popular, and so I got a really good glimpse at how add-on content can enhance a game. It wasn't long before I got involved with an open-source FPS project (Nexuiz released 2005, now forked and developed as Xonotic). As a 2D artist, I mostly worked on loading screens, the menu UI, the in-game UI, but I met a team of global volunteers from all around the world that became friends. I learned about programming, I got to 'shadow' and understand every role inside a game development team, and I got to have the thrill of shipping a product and playing against strangers inside the game I helped to create! All this before I was finished high school.

My advice to you and your son would be to start small with Minecraft mods, or something where you can immediately put the skills you have to use and see changes. This keeps you interested as you learn about and develop skills related to game design you don't currently have (3d modelling, game engine programming, audio engineering, etc).

I would also encourage you to contribute or join some open source game projects that are looking for contributors or volunteers. For me this was a social life-saver as a teenager, as well as an amazing educational experience.

Best of luck to you and your child, you have a wonderful adventure ahead of you!

mrfusion 10 years ago |

I wonder if you both could go through some pygame tutorials? They're very approachable.

detaro 10 years ago |

modded Minecraft might be a nice platform, people do all sort of things in it

bramm 10 years ago | |

That's definitely something to look into in the future.

segmondy 10 years ago |

Introduce them to Logo, and then BASIC. After that python.