Resources for an 8 year old who wants to create a video game
Posted by Chubbymommy2020@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 23 comments
My 8-year-old wants to create his own video game. He is aware he needs to learn to code. How best can I support him? Coding camps? Resources? I'm very new to this as a parent.
Queasy_Concert2054@reddit
Coding camps would be great. Try checking out iD Tech, if you haven't yet.
computer_literate@reddit
If you son is slow or has a low IQ, I would recommend you teach him the Scratch programming language.
If he is of average intelligence or above, there are serious programming books targeted towards kids. Maybe start by buying him this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Coding-Projects-Python-DK/dp/1465461884/
He will learn python. A real programming language. The same programming language that all the latest AI research is done in.
You can also go through the Godot 2D tutorial with him after.
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/getting_started/first_2d_game/index.html
Godot is one of the post popular game engines (unity might be more popular).
Godot works on most computers. It is recommended you have at least 200mb of free space.
If you go with Unity I think they recommend you have 100GB of free space.
Feel free to DM me with any questions. I've been programming recreationally for over a decade.
Sad_Drama3912@reddit
Check at your 8 year old’s school.
Many schools now subscribe to programs to teach coding to young kids as part of their STEM programs.
It might be oriented towards a bit higher grades, but I’d bet they’ll let a younger enthusiast get started.
Aglet_Green@reddit
No I wouldn't suggest anything like coding-camps for an 8-year old. At 8, he is probably best to try either Scratch or Scratch Junior.
https://www.scratchjr.org
Take a look at that website.
AdreKiseque@reddit
I had no idea "Scratch Jr" was a thing lol
Psychological-Shoe95@reddit
Scratch was absolutely amazing when I was 9-11
Scratch_Veterab@reddit
turbowarp should be better if he wants something more serious
kschang@reddit
Learn Scratch.
Top_Access_7173@reddit
Teach them to vibe code /s
hazelnutmatchas@reddit
what kind of video game does he want to make? id suggest looking into the typical coding languages used for that kind of video game and looking for resources specific to those languages, especially if he is aware that he needs to learn to code. if he wants to create a game and has a specific idea in mind, then the 'just starting out' programs may be too restrictive; my experience when i wanted to make a game as a kid was that the class i signed up for was very limited and didnt teach any coding, which made me feel ill-equipped to jump into coding at all. ask him where he wants to start- the logic (which will be applicable to all languages, but may delay the making of his game), or the coding language itself (which will be a bit faster, but may be confusing if he doesnt already know some logic). there isnt really a 'one size fits all' answer to this; it could be possible to overwhelm him if you give him too many high level resources, and it could be possible to demotivate him if the resources are too basic for him. ask him what he'd be interested in
Gugalcrom123@reddit
I won't recommend ScratchJr, because it doesn't teach programming, it's more like an animation maker.
I'd suggest Python (a language also used professionally, but with many libraries available, so you don't need to do much low-level work) with Pygame (for 2D) or Ursina (for 3D), both can do 2 or 3 dimensions, but they're the easiest when used like that. If you need to go simpler, there's Pygame Zero for 2D, which uses a model more similar to Scratch, but keeps it in a real language.
You can present Python as a very advanced calculator. Start with the shell, make some experiments, then write a few simple text-based scripts with I/O to understand the syntax, and then try using Pygame or Pygame Zero.
Alternatively you can use Scratch. It's a nice software, but once you want to do something in it that it isn't designed for (anything except 2D games and animations), you would have to use lots of complicated workarounds. It also doesn't teach all the concepts used in real programming languages (no functions, classes, file access). You can also try TurboWarp, an editor based on Scratch, but with many extensions which mostly remove its limitations; however, you lose the community aspect when using that, as projects created in TurboWarp can't be uploaded to the Scratch website if they use such features.
BlueSialia@reddit
The game Autonauts in Steam is a nice way to introduce somebody that young to the most basic concepts of coding.
chalks777@reddit
My son is 7 (aaaalmost 8) and he wants the same thing. The things that have been the most influential and have helped him figure out how to make things on his own are (in order of how early he started getting decent at it):
The other thing that has helped tremendously is having a desktop computer that he can use on his own. Phones, tablets, and (to a slightly lesser extent) laptops are significantly more challenging to use for this. It's just easier if you have a keyboard, mouse, and dedicated space for it.
Some skills that my son needed to really start doing things on his own:
In my opinion your goal shouldn't be to teach him how to program. Your goal should be to teach him how to learn to make things.
vengefulgrapes@reddit
Scratch worked great for me; I used it for years and it's what got me interested in programming. It's designed for around that age group and there are lots of resources available for getting started with it.
zdxqvr@reddit
I would suggest starting out with scratch, you drag and drop code blocks to control sprites. Lots of tutorials and pretty much industry standard for kids to learn coding at that age.
After that you can take a look into greenfoot.org for a slightly more advanced coding platform. It is still geards towards education with an emphasis on graphics and building visual games.
DataPastor@reddit
An 8 year old should play football in the yard, or build a fortress in the backyard, should play with the dog outside, and indoors (s)he should play table games with parents, read books, and play with LEGO bricks and similar creative toys. My $0.02
Timothy303@reddit
Logo was created for this purpose. It is very old now but I taught kids with it for years and in some ways it’s still the best (Microworlds Logo, specifically). I used it to teach 8-12 years olds coding. Lots of them chose games. 8 is on the very young end though, they need the most support.
Scratch and Scratch Junior are the modern versions of a kid friendly language like that.
If you want to invest, the things you can do with LEGO Mindstorms are awesome, but I think that’s officially unsupported now.
A summer coding camp is a great idea.
I used to host one every summer and we accepted u year olds.
samanime@reddit
Coding camps are actually a great way at that age, if you aren't a coder yourself. I taught at one for a number of years, and then worked for them for several years after. I taught kids as young as barely 7. It is remarkable what they can pick up in a short time. It's a good way to kickstart knowledge. (DM me if you are interested in knowing which camp, it is one of the pricier US national ones, but I do believe one of the best, even all these years after I stopped working for them.)
I'd also try out Scratch to get the basics of programming down in a visual way, which can help with building mental models (I'd even start my older kids out on Scratch briefly).
From there, either Game Maker or RPG Maker would be decent next steps. They are a little more complicated, but also more powerful.
I'd also have him start learning some form of regular programming too. C++ and C# are probably the most used languages in the game space. I think C# is easier to learn initially. He could also start with something a little easier, like JavaScript. Almost all programming languages share like a 95%+ overlap in concepts and transferable knowledge. He'll eventually need to learn many languages if he keeps going down this path.
If you could, it'd also be nice to learn alongside him, so you can help each other and also be able to post questions for him online (all devs need help occasionally).
And, most importantly, just keep encouraging him. Many of his early "games" will only be games in the loosest of terms, but they are important milestones and building blocks. Encouraging him and praising his work will motivate him to keep learning.
I started coding when I was about 12, largely because I wanted to create games too. As I got older, I decided I didn't want to make games because the industry is a bit rough (though that may be changing, they just unionized in the US), but all those skills I learned transferred to other aspects of programming, and I became a different sort of dev and now have a job I love and a great life. It is worth the effort.
Wise_Cow3001@reddit
Roblox is a pretty good place to learn. 8 is pretty young, although my daughter did play with level design in the editor at 8. The trick is keeping them interested without pressuring them...
You could always start with scratch, which concentrates more on logic than a specific programming language. Then move on once they've learned about control flow etc.
boomer1204@reddit
I like this. The "idea" of building a game and actually building it are usually very far apart for someone in college/coming out of college let alone an 8 year old. ABSOLUTELY nothing negative here towards your child just he way it is. Get on youtube and find a scratch tutorial. That should be enough to know if the kid is actually interested in building it or just likes the "idea" of building it. Then after that like others have suggested roblox is really popular, lua is pretty "easy" and can be used with Love2d to build games or pick one of the popular game engines that helps a lot with the minor details and let's you kind of just build stuff (GDot, gamemaker, rpgmaker and many others)
vizuallyimpaired@reddit
When i was 8 years old i went to a summer camp for game making, we used a program called kodu which didn't require knowing anything about coding languages at all. It was a good way to experience basic programming logic like "if this happens then this happens".
Both kodu and another program called scratch use block based programming, where you have preset blocks that contain instructions that you can piece together. I'd highly recommend starting there as opposed to getting right into any actual coding languages
MaxPayneTheFall@reddit
You can do it all at home. There is software for both personal computers and smartphones for learning programming, usually named something simple such as "Learn Python" and "Learn C++". I recommend starting him off with something simple like Python, programming languages like C++ might be too complicated to start off with, especially for an 8 year old.
blueechoes@reddit
Point them at a game with a good level editor or modding tools. Minecraft, roblox ... I'm sure there are better ones than those too. Making your own game is a big hurdle at 8, they'll need tools that are able to do a good deal of the work for them. (Also I don't recommend trying to monetize anything made in roblox, they're pretty exploitative.)