Can someone point me in the right direction?

[Them0m]

This may sound off the wall, but I have to ask. And apologies for this being long-winded.

First, let me start by stating I know absolutely nothing about how to make a game. I am a mother and don't know where to start. Now my issue... my young son (age 12) wants to learn how to make a game. He is a gifted child when it comes to academics, and attends a school for kids with exceptional thinking abilities. He has been wanting to create his own computer game because, in his words, "Mom, these games get boring. I want to design my own." He has taken a notebook and started recording ideas and drawings of characters in his head for various games. He has taken it as far as he can without knowing what comes next. He is frustrated with his lack of knowledge on how to make his ideas real on a computer. His school is not equipped with an instructor in this field. The most they have offered is learning HTML (Greek to me) which my son has now finished. He tells me if I want a website designed, he can now do it, but it has nothing to do with game design.

As a parent, I want to help but don't know how. I am searching for book titles, online learning sites, etc that I can point him in the direction of, taking his concepts to the next level. We got him software called "Blender", thinking it would help him. Is there online tutorials, books written for a novice to understand (so that I may be able to explain things to him), etc? He also has mentioned wanting to learn Java.

If anyone has a bit of information, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time.
-The Mom

[SuperSonic]

Hello there

I would like to start by saying that I know just how your son feels. It took me forever to figure out how to design and program games due to lack of resources. But anyways, here are some great resources for what your son wants to learn:

begging c++ through game programming is a book that teaches you how to program console applications using easy to follow instructions. The writer also has done many other great programming books.

Bucky's c++ tutorials is a series of video tutorials that take you from newb to pro. The author of the tutorials really knows how to explain things without boring you to death so I highly recommend this to someone who isn't very technical. Click here for the playlist of tutorials on you tube.

Codecadamy.com is a website dedicated to java programming. It is unique because you the learning is interactive. You actually type and test the code as you learn it

And of course, he can always start here at Game Editor. The community would be happy to help him with anything he needs

I hope that helped solve your problem

[Jagmaster]

Hello Them0m,

It sounds like your son has already taken the first step, and arguably the most important one; that is, the planning, writing down, and in general, gathering of ideas. I have been learning programming/Game design for the good latter half of HS, and have tried a handful of tools. If I were to recommend some reading materials, I would recommend the "For Teens" series by Cengage Learning.

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http://www.cengage.com/search/showresults.do?Ntk=all&Ntt=%22For+Teens%22&N=16

http://www.cengage.com/search/productOverview.do?Ntt=%22For+Teens%22||9781598635188&N=16&Ntk=all||P_Isbn13

http://www.cengage.com/search/productOverview.do?Ntt=%22For+Teens%22||9781598634464&N=16&Ntk=all||P_Isbn13


They give a good introduction to programming, but some of them require some expensive tools to actually get going; such as, Blitz Basic. (If this is the case, there is usually a 30 day trial which in my opinion is not enough to actually learn such a concept.)

As a result after reading some of these materials, I looked for some open-source options - which is how I found Game Editor. Game Editor has been the the engine that I have stuck with the longest, and have found to be the easiest to get started with. Although it is possible to create games without any programming knowledge, I would recommend learning C before or along with learning Game Editor.


The Tutorials and Help pages are loaded with content to help one get started with GE.

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http://game-editor.com/Help

http://game-editor.com/Tutorials

I hope this helps.

And yes, I see you beat me to it SuperSonic.

[SuperSonic]

And yes, I see you beat me to it SuperSonic.

Yeah, I do that every now and then lol ^^

[Them0m]

Thank you so much for the information. Will have him read this and will research into getting him the books listed. Again, thanks for pointing us in a forward position.

[SuperSonic]

No problem. Glad to help