16:[[39035650,{"by":"welfare","descendants":378,"id":39035650,"kids":[39037279,39038264,39036899,39035889,39038206,39039347,39042046,39036896,39041115,39038668,39039603,39038042,39035944,39036946,39036060,39039013,39039176,39039995,39035726,39042252,39038131,39038177,39037051,39038969,39038304,39039956,39035723,39038094,39038512,39041073,39038529,39039837,39039745,39038438,39045576,39038931,39038452,39040112,39040529,39035743,39038331,39039545,39041422,39040579,39038228,39038726,39042261,39038270,39042034,39039516,39039926,39044374,39039188,39041003,39040006,39048400,39040292,39039461,39041586,39040783,39041041,39038222,39038798,39039212,39041032,39037086,39048581,39039752,39040022,39040083,39041399,39058622,39037145,39081675,39039973,39055530,39039822,39040322,39043542,39044741,39056278,39049415,39042515,39035688,39038859,39037049,39083561,39038630,39083535,39047474,39047057,39038118,39042808,39041467,39042460,39047626,39058786,39044076,39037821,39042860,39042701,39039862,39040713,39038988,39041691,39038550,39036753,39041138,39038896,39049032,39040177,39038975,39040498,39058985,39038426,39039711,39041834,39041801,39040702,39039000,39040218,39042670,39044941,39091177,39041231,39038940,39070806,39045111,39041685,39042937,39042353,39042748,39041922,39038375,39041043,39039654,39042605,39038171,39039663,39038435,39061271,39042738,39038691,39070841,39040432,39039874,39038513,39040300,39039577,39040231,39046331,39043022,39048799,39039400,39039690,39038267,39042985,39039991,39036886,39042109,39042683,39043887,39038445,39037085,39036999,39044694,39038205,39043870,39038459,39038643,39041972,39040737,39038451,39038587,39038622,39061202,39039436,39039408,39050856,39036058,39041848,39040391,39038087,39040408,39039086,39038592,39038414,39038483,39039854,39041412,39036921,39041372,39042641,39050331,39041788,39050034,39041869,39040738,39040069,39040394,39042703,39038709,39038484,39041928,39038944,39038606,39046975,39042146,39037416,39037054,39038227,39040961,39042408,39038300,39042141,39083810,39056758,39041879,39043475,39038237,39039943,39038670,39040046,39039844,39042377,39039653,39040289,39037885,39040873,39041165,39041588,39037070,39038589,39040673,39041324,39039420,39039724,39055184,39035782,39050766,39035696],"score":387,"text":"Background :

My son hasn’t really showed any interest in computers until now. He’s been spending a lot of time over the last couple of weeks designing some sort of a game (on paper) and now he wants me to help him build it, whatever it is. I don’t want to let him down but I also know how much work that goes into a game (he specifically wants it to be 3D).

I’m a decent developer, although I’ve not done game development professionally I did tons of demos on the 90’s so I feel I know the basics of 3D math but I’m pretty sure he will lose interest if I try to teach him x86 assembler :)

Joke aside, what can I do? This sounds like a great project for us to explore together and hopefully he can grow interest in software design and development.

Are there development kits I can start with (unity?)

How do I keep the project “contained” so he feels that he accomplished something but still feels we developed something close to his vision?

Thank you HN.","time":1705537260,"title":"Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?","type":"story"}],[22792829,{"by":"corecoder","descendants":364,"id":22792829,"kids":[22794228,22793146,22793724,22795690,22793111,22792922,22794214,22794860,22792994,22793676,22793787,22793063,22792984,22793029,22793755,22794779,22792901,22793234,22793332,22793648,22795084,22793318,22792888,22794270,22794157,22793420,22793720,22793242,22793037,22796918,22793150,22793192,22795702,22794464,22793413,22793104,22795288,22794378,22793511,22793503,22794513,22795066,22795036,22793871,22793653,22796940,22793727,22793933,22794106,22797263,22793641,22796418,22794702,22797682,22797829,22794125,22795864,22794678,22793836,22795306,22794411,22793824,22814698,22793771,22793571,22793589,22796406,22794625,22793166,22796415,22795626,22794964,22811810,22794916,22795135,22793139,22798114,22794611,22795472,22795218,22795095,22793651,22794796,22795157,22795357,22793081,22794328,22794630,22793479,22792895,22793201,22797052,22794865,22796407,22794312,22793741,22798488,22794877,22794712,22810583,22793377,22795005,22816732,22798549,22794500,22794736,22797695,22792900,22793040,22793087,22795495,22793974,22796413,22794105,22794315,22804223,22798078,22799827,22796584,22796552,22794113,22797230,22794579,22792971,22794623,22794649,22794680,22793558,22794592,22797542,22794772,22794087,22793552,22796065,22794007,22794751,22793154,22793131,22794135,22795714,22795034,22794754,22795153,22794681,22794662,22796713,22795056,22792881,22793445,22793093,22794439,22795088,22794670,22795504,22793068,22795706,22793485,22793023,22795867,22797807,22796336,22794019,22801176,22795008,22795104,22795881,22795703,22793401,22796317,22792913,22795718,22793867,22792978,22792889,22792993,22846887,22795091,22795002,22797163,22795227,22793054,22792959,22793244,22802325,22794647,22794398,22833285,22797118,22794413,22794817,22794714,22793542,22794982,22793002,22798609,22795158,22794203,22794182,22797423,22796854,22796661,22796383,22795597,22794829,22793336,22793058,22793984,22793463,22794368,22795371],"score":686,"text":"I'm a web developer and DevOps engineer. I know a few languages and frameworks very well, I can find my way around with a good deal of other languages and frameworks, and I'd like to learn a lot more.

My problem is that I cannot seem to be able to pick a project (any project) and stick with it long enough to do any meaningful progress, let alone finishing it.\nIt's been several years since I've managed to work on a side project for more than two days continually.

I sit before the computer thinking: I know! I'll write a roguelike in X! Five minutes later, I'm thinking: fuck roguelikes! I'll write a graphical solitar card game with Y! Five minutes later, I don't care for it anymore, and would rather write an isomorphic strategy game in Z.

The same thing happens with tools I might need, applications I think about, experimental stuff, etc.

Has anyone else experienced this, and, more importantly, found their way out? How?","time":1586173444,"title":"Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?","type":"story"}]]

user:	wschlender
created:	June 4, 2019
karma:	4
about:	I'm a software engineer interested in building startups. I blog about my projects at https://walt.fyi