Making a video game

[Savir]

So my friends little brother, who is 11 years old, is really interested into programming and wants to make a vide game. What language would you recommend thats easy for a small kid to understand and get into? The reason my friend is asking me for advice is because I'm a "computer guy", but I mostly jus do HTML, CSS, Javascript, and a ton of video editing. So I have no idea what to tell him. 

[anybodykek]

Maybe he can use a game engine to program his game..?

[Savir]

Just now, anybodykek said:

Maybe he can use a game engine to program his game..?

Which ones would you recommend the only one Ive tried is Unity.

[anybodykek]

It honestly depends on the type of game he's making. GameMaker is a nice one since it includes click-and-drag as well as coding but it costs money. He might be able to use something like C++ since I find it has a nice gradual learning curve, but that might just be personal preference

[Savir]

Just now, anybodykek said:

It honestly depends on the type of game he's making. GameMaker is a nice one since it includes click-and-drag as well as coding but it costs money. He might be able to use something like C++ since I find it has a nice gradual learning curve, but that might just be personal preference

Alright thanks I'll check it out 

[Guuhan]

Gamemaker is somewhat a nice start. Doesn't really focus on real programming, but you can make pretty sweet 2D games where the engine really excels. Other than that Unity would be a more powerful engine. And ofcourse Unreal.

[MoVo]

There are some programs out there which are used in schools to teach kids programming, there is no actual programming evolved but it's a nice introduction for the kids to get an overview how programming basically works. Sketch was developed by the MIT and is used widely known. It uses simple canvas where you can drag N drop your image assets, for game logic there is a simple graphical flow editor which walks step by step trough your "code" and does its logic.

[Beskamir]

If he wants to make a AAA level game then he should give up or try modding an existing AAA game like Empire at War (most of the data is stored in XML iirc), Witcher 3 (the scripts are java/c++ like), etc. 

 

Alternatively he could try making simple board games with Python+turtle graphics. 

 

I guess he could also try using an engine like UE4 to try and make something larger scale but at that stage he'd need to be an animator, artist, programmer, sound designer, etc and I doubt he'd be skilled enough or have the time for all of that. 

[Savir]

4 hours ago, ElfFriend said:

If he wants to make a AAA level game then he should give up or try modding an existing AAA game like Empire at War (most of the data is stored in XML iirc), Witcher 3 (the scripts are java/c++ like), etc. 

 

Alternatively he could try making simple board games with Python+turtle graphics. 

 

I guess he could also try using an engine like UE4 to try and make something larger scale but at that stage he'd need to be an animator, artist, programmer, sound designer, etc and I doubt he'd be skilled enough or have the time for all of that. 

Yeah ikr the kid is pretty ambitious and I understand the amount of skills that is needed to make a AAA game or something similar, but Im pretty sure he just wants to make a very simple 2D puzzle game

[Guuhan]

9 minutes ago, Savir said:

Yeah ikr the kid is pretty ambitious and I understand the amount of skills that is needed to make a AAA game or something similar, but Im pretty sure he just wants to make a very simple 2D puzzle game

Gamemaker will be the best choice.

 

[Savir]

Yeah thats what I told him after looking at the engine

[Beskamir]

3 hours ago, Savir said:

Yeah ikr the kid is pretty ambitious and I understand the amount of skills that is needed to make a AAA game or something similar, but Im pretty sure he just wants to make a very simple 2D puzzle game

Then yeah, Python with turtle graphics would be enough for him. I wrote Reversi in Python with using turtle graphics for the UI and it was pretty fun/easy. Shouldn't be that difficult and the best part is that a simple board game doesn't require any artist abilities. (I can only do 3D art)

 

Also technically I was to work in a group on Reversi but I ended up doing pretty much 80-90% of it myself since I was a terrible team leader and failed miserably at assigning tasks and ensure everyone did something.

[rm -rf]

On 19/09/2016 at 7:24 AM, Savir said:

So my friends little brother, who is 11 years old, is really interested into programming and wants to make a vide game. What language would you recommend thats easy for a small kid to understand and get into? The reason my friend is asking me for advice is because I'm a "computer guy", but I mostly jus do HTML, CSS, Javascript, and a ton of video editing. So I have no idea what to tell him. 

Scratch? https://scratch.mit.edu/

[PocketNerd]

I'd go with GameMaker, which does have a free version. If he likes it and wants to step up his... game, it has paid versions which unlock programming and other platforms.