5 ms·

Ask HN: 10 year old girl with creative stop motion art wants to program a game

4 points by julianpye 11y ago

At my son's birthday party today, a friend's daughter said to me 'you know how to program games and apps. I have some ideas and I want to program a game'. She showed me some really wicked stop-motion video she created with hand-drawn graphics (sharks hunting sharks underwater). I asked about her primary goal - it is mobile phones (1), tablets (2), PC(3), not consoles. Her dad would set up a Linux PC for her, though she can use her mom's Windows PC, too. Any people with experience here - what would be the easiest way for her to start?

detaro 11y ago
Maybe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_(programming_language) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_(programming_language), although I'm not sure if there is a phone/tablet version?
- julianpye 11y ago
  I think she is into the output. 15 years ago I would have said Macromedia Director. I don't know what the equivalent would be nowadays.
  - charlieegan3 11y ago
    If she does have access to a tablet http://twolivesleft.com/Codea/ http://twolivesleft.com/Codea/ is worth checking out too. (though `distribution' isn't a thing)
charlieegan3 11y ago
Perhaps something web based like this? https://ceilfire.com/editor https://ceilfire.com/editor At the end of the day she's going to need to learn some basic programming, Scratch is the default recommendation but I like to recommend Ruby Warrior: https://www.bloc.io/ruby-warrior#/ https://www.bloc.io/ruby-warrior#/ I think a 10 year old would get that.
megacity 11y ago
Something like rpgmaker maybe?: https://www.rpgmakerweb.com/ https://www.rpgmakerweb.com/
dragonbonheur 11y ago
Commercial with free versions: Game maker, Multimedia Fusion, Adventure Maker, Engine001. Free: Tululoo Game maker (outputs to HTML5), Game Editor, Wintermute engine, Adventure Game Studio. Programming languages: Browser Basic (Outputs to Html5), MonkeyX (desktop and HTML5, paid for other platform targets), BlitzBasic, BlitzMax, FreeBasic, QB64, Gideros mobile. http://www.tululoo.com http://www.tululoo.com http://pewtersoftware.com/browserbasic/ http://pewtersoftware.com/browserbasic/ http://fbide.freebasic.net/download http://fbide.freebasic.net/download http://www.qb64.net http://www.qb64.net http://www.blitzbasic.com http://www.blitzbasic.com http://www.monkey-x.com http://www.monkey-x.com http://giderosmobile.com http://giderosmobile.com Other game creation resources: http://www.ambrosine.com/resource.html http://www.ambrosine.com/resource.html http://freegameslist.weebly.com/game-creation-tools.html http://freegameslist.weebly.com/game-creation-tools.html A really good sprite editor: https://sourceforge.net/projects/pixelaria/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/pixelaria/

4 points by julianpye 11y ago

detaro 11y ago

Maybe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_(programming_language) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_(programming_language), although I'm not sure if there is a phone/tablet version?

julianpye 11y ago
I think she is into the output. 15 years ago I would have said Macromedia Director. I don't know what the equivalent would be nowadays.
- charlieegan3 11y ago
  If she does have access to a tablet http://twolivesleft.com/Codea/ http://twolivesleft.com/Codea/ is worth checking out too. (though `distribution' isn't a thing)

charlieegan3 11y ago

Perhaps something web based like this? https://ceilfire.com/editor https://ceilfire.com/editor At the end of the day she's going to need to learn some basic programming, Scratch is the default recommendation but I like to recommend Ruby Warrior: https://www.bloc.io/ruby-warrior#/ https://www.bloc.io/ruby-warrior#/ I think a 10 year old would get that.

megacity 11y ago

Something like rpgmaker maybe?: https://www.rpgmakerweb.com/ https://www.rpgmakerweb.com/

dragonbonheur 11y ago

Commercial with free versions: Game maker, Multimedia Fusion, Adventure Maker, Engine001. Free: Tululoo Game maker (outputs to HTML5), Game Editor, Wintermute engine, Adventure Game Studio. Programming languages: Browser Basic (Outputs to Html5), MonkeyX (desktop and HTML5, paid for other platform targets), BlitzBasic, BlitzMax, FreeBasic, QB64, Gideros mobile. http://www.tululoo.com http://www.tululoo.com http://pewtersoftware.com/browserbasic/ http://pewtersoftware.com/browserbasic/ http://fbide.freebasic.net/download http://fbide.freebasic.net/download http://www.qb64.net http://www.qb64.net http://www.blitzbasic.com http://www.blitzbasic.com http://www.monkey-x.com http://www.monkey-x.com http://giderosmobile.com http://giderosmobile.com Other game creation resources: http://www.ambrosine.com/resource.html http://www.ambrosine.com/resource.html http://freegameslist.weebly.com/game-creation-tools.html http://freegameslist.weebly.com/game-creation-tools.html A really good sprite editor: https://sourceforge.net/projects/pixelaria/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/pixelaria/