Teach kids how to create games

[amjjawad]

Hi,

I have a friend who has 2 kids, 9 and 7 years. He is not an IT guy and know very little about these stuff. He knew I'm all into GNU/Linux and have worked with several projects and have my own. He approached me and asked me:


How can my kids create their own games instead of playing only?

Sadly, I'm not a programmer nor developer so couldn't really answer his question. Thus I am asking you if someone could share some useful steps, links, etc for kids to learn.

I'd highly suggest to go the GNU/Linux route even though no one can deny Microsoft Windows is a batter platform when it comes to games but I don't want people to be lazy, they need to learn GNU/Linux and go beyond that. So kindly share some useful tips, etc.

Many thanks :)

[opsusec]

python, there's a bunch of interactive environments and it teaches them an extremely powerful algebraic language simultaneously.

[DuckHook]

The original purpose of the Raspberry Pi was to teach kids programming. These days, they have an incredibly rich and varied website with teaching aids, projects, how-tos, wikis and a wealth of other resources including programming games: https://www.raspberrypi.org/

All Linux. No need to reinvent this wheel.

[TheFu]

The olpc project was about getting kids to learn computers and provided a programming environment for them to explore based on smalltalk. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Squeak ... I think that kids who learn squeak are get a much richer experience.

Of course, the kids have to find it fun. If they are into robotics, there are lots of simple programming environments for that too. Schools have annual competitions where they have robot teams play soccer. At the end of every competition, all the code used by all the teams is shared. Year after year, the games got smarter and smarter and faster. Robots AND soccer! What isn't to like?!

But I'd start with squeak. Seem to recall seeing groups of students teaching each other in Africa how to use it.

[amjjawad]

python, there's a bunch of interactive environments and it teaches them an extremely powerful algebraic language simultaneously.

Hi and thanks for your reply :)

Do you think Python is a good start point for 9 and 7 years old kids to learn programming and/or making games?!

If yes, then I need to search for how to install it on an Ubuntu machine.

If no, then what are the other alternatives?!

Many thanks :)

[amjjawad]

The original purpose of the Raspberry Pi was to teach kids programming. These days, they have an incredibly rich and varied website with teaching aids, projects, how-tos, wikis and a wealth of other resources including programming games: https://www.raspberrypi.org/

All Linux. No need to reinvent this wheel.

Will check that, many thanks :)

[amjjawad]

The olpc project was about getting kids to learn computers and provided a programming environment for them to explore based on smalltalk. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Squeak ... I think that kids who learn squeak are get a much richer experience.

Of course, the kids have to find it fun. If they are into robotics, there are lots of simple programming environments for that too. Schools have annual competitions where they have robot teams play soccer. At the end of every competition, all the code used by all the teams is shared. Year after year, the games got smarter and smarter and faster. Robots AND soccer! What isn't to like?!

But I'd start with squeak. Seem to recall seeing groups of students teaching each other in Africa how to use it.

Many thanks for your reply :)

I'm not sure if this is a good option or not? it seems there is a learning curve involved to deal with Squeak. The father of the kids is not an IT guy and I can't be available all the time to help them. The easier the platform is, the better.

[TheFu]

My understanding is that the kids figure squeak out on their own. No teachers needed. Bet there are lots of youtube videos about this. The kids will know that already. The system is designed for kids to teach themselves. http://www.squeakland.org/

Python is **not** for 7 yr old kids. They probably need to know a little algebra to start with python - so probably 11-12 yrs old?

[frostschutz]

Python is **not** for 7 yr old kids. They probably need to know a little algebra to start with python - so probably 11-12 yrs old?

I remember struggling a lot with programming when I was a kid (yet a lot older than 7, no computer at all at that age)... but that was in MSDOS, with QBASIC, and no documentation, no tutorials, no nothing. So what I did never amounted to anything ... I just modified existing scripts, fiddling with some values and laugh at the random results (if it didn't just crash). I guess a well determined kid could go a lot further than that nowadays (but you can't force it).

However, making games is just so much easier said than done. Even just creating new levels for an existing game is a ton of work sometimes, making an entire game from scratch is a daunting task, not just for kids... it might work if dad / mom just happens to be a game developer but... there's a reason why most games are years in the making and that's with dozens of people working on them full time. Games are designed to look easy, but they're incredibly hard to make.

There are some games that are supposed to teach you how to code ( I don't have a specific recommendation there - random link https://getbadges.io/blog/12-gamification-platforms-that-help-learn-coding ) maybe something like that would work (if it's more about learning programming basics rather than actually making a game of your own).

If you really want to make a game, you should have a rough idea what kind of game and then see if there's a game engine you can use with relative ease. Or maybe just mod an existing game. Or just find a nice game with a map editor so you can get creative (as a kid I would have killed for mario maker on the SNES). Level design might have nothing to do with programming but it's still a core part of any game...

[kurja]

How about https://scratch.mit.edu/? I understand this is used in some schools that offer programming for the smaller kids.

[frostschutz]

scratch seems very nice - if you can get it to work. unfortunately it only works with adobe flash. (but there seems to be a new version in the works)

[Wild_Duck66]

I used a program called GLBasic which after writing the program can be compiled for almost any platform. Game Editor lets you make games without any programming knowledge.

[Perfect Storm]

There is also RPG Maker MV on steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/363890/RPG_Maker_MV/

[alket]

I highly recommend GodotEngine https://godotengine.org .
It is MIT , super easy and has a python-like syntax.
It also supports Visual Scripting.