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Maybe let him try modding existing games? Steam's community workshop pages are thriving, especially for easily modded titles like Bethesda games. Back in the d

Maybe let him try modding existing games? Steam's community workshop pages are thriving, especially for easily modded titles like Bethesda games. Back in the day, Warcraft III had a built-in script and level editor and people thrived on making mods and entire new types of games with it (murder mysteries, tower defense, battle royale, DOTA...). It's how I got my start as a coder, modding games that I enjoyed without the boring pressure of "business logic". I think Fortnite itself has a creative mode with limited logical programming: https://www.firetechcamp.com/course/build-an-escape-room-in-fortnite-creative-mode/ https://www.firetechcamp.com/course/build-an-escape-room-in-... Proper modding support is supposed to arrive soon: https://www.pcgamer.com/fortnite-creative-mod-support/ https://www.pcgamer.com/fortnite-creative-mod-support/

davidw 5y ago
Cool! Any other games like that that people can recommend? Bonus points if it's fairly easy to get started.
- ye_olde_gamer 5y ago
  I think there's a slight distinction to be made between "games that have built-in low/no-code content editors" and "games that can be modded via an SDK, but you have to code". The former are good for any creative kid (or adult!) and don't require you to learn a programming language, just logical thinking (as in logic gates/flows). The latter, depending on tooling, can require everything from simple Lua scripts (a common game modding language) all the way up to learning UnrealEngine or Unity. Games with built-in content editors: * Warcraft & Starcraft series (oldies but goodies) * Fortnite * Minecraft * Neverwinter Nights series * Divinity: Original Sin series * Age of Empires series Code-moddable games: Too many to list, see here: https://store.steampowered.com/tags/en/Moddable/#p=0&tab=TopRated https://store.steampowered.com/tags/en/Moddable/#p=0&tab=Top... In particular I'd check out Warcraft, Neverwinter Nights' DM mode, and the DOS editor for a good sampling of what the industry can offer. They are a great stepping stone to actual programming, with triggers, conditionals, and other flow control structures all wrapped behind a veneer of fantasy gaming. (edit: sorry for potato formatting. no idea how HN handles text formatting)
- Nexxxeh 5y ago
  Overwatch's workshop might be a fun introduction.
deleted 5y ago
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Panqueca_do_mar 5y ago
Modding Minecraft is what lead me to be a full-stack developer today

davidw 5y ago

Cool! Any other games like that that people can recommend? Bonus points if it's fairly easy to get started.

ye_olde_gamer 5y ago
I think there's a slight distinction to be made between "games that have built-in low/no-code content editors" and "games that can be modded via an SDK, but you have to code". The former are good for any creative kid (or adult!) and don't require you to learn a programming language, just logical thinking (as in logic gates/flows). The latter, depending on tooling, can require everything from simple Lua scripts (a common game modding language) all the way up to learning UnrealEngine or Unity. Games with built-in content editors: * Warcraft & Starcraft series (oldies but goodies) * Fortnite * Minecraft * Neverwinter Nights series * Divinity: Original Sin series * Age of Empires series Code-moddable games: Too many to list, see here: https://store.steampowered.com/tags/en/Moddable/#p=0&tab=TopRated https://store.steampowered.com/tags/en/Moddable/#p=0&tab=Top... In particular I'd check out Warcraft, Neverwinter Nights' DM mode, and the DOS editor for a good sampling of what the industry can offer. They are a great stepping stone to actual programming, with triggers, conditionals, and other flow control structures all wrapped behind a veneer of fantasy gaming. (edit: sorry for potato formatting. no idea how HN handles text formatting)
Nexxxeh 5y ago
Overwatch's workshop might be a fun introduction.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Panqueca_do_mar 5y ago

Modding Minecraft is what lead me to be a full-stack developer today