My Child Wants to Make a Video Game: Where to Start?

You start hearing rumblings that your kid wants to become a Game Developer. It is something you want to encourage, but where do you start? After all, it is not immediately obvious what you should do if you want to become a game developer. There are plenty of people who do it without going to college, and it is not like you can send your High School kid to college anyway. They certainly don’t conduct game development lessons in elementary and High school, so where do you start? Hopefully, this article will give you a few ideas on what to do next with whitehat jr coupon code.

Try a Coding Course

 If your kid is of a suitable age, you can sign your kid up for a game development course, including the ever popular Roblox coding which teaches them in an environment they love. Pick a child-friendly and perhaps take the courses with your kid. At least in that way, you are able to put things in context, you can help maintain your kid’s enthusiasm, and it could be a good bonding experience.

It is preferable that you take part in the lessons and the Video Game that the course provides. This will help your child make his or her way through the course, and it adds an extra layer of attention to keep your kid interested. Plus, you should probably work your way through the courses and games with your kid to be sure you are getting good value for money.

Don’t Start With “Easy” Tools

There are coding languages like Visual Basic (VB) that are pushed on kids, but they are useless to your child in the long run. If you are going to teach your kid how to code in order to create Video Game, then you need to offer them information that they can actually use when they are older. 

On a similar note, there are programs out there like Dreams and Mario Maker. These are game development platforms, and they are two of many. Do your absolute best to avoid these tools because whatever your child creates cannot be sold. Plus, when kids learn things like Mario Maker, it is good fun, but it doesn’t teach them very much which is useful for a real game developer.

What About Roblox?

There is currently one exception to the rule given above, and that is Roblox. It isn’t ideal, but if your child has already shown an interest in Roblox, then this is a route you can go. There are upsides and downsides to using Roblox. 

Firstly, there are plenty of tutorials on how to create games and in-game objects, and the Roblox Studio eases people into the process pretty nicely. Plus, unlike other Video Game-creating tools (including the ones on Google Play and Steam), you can make real money from your Roblox game.

The downside to Roblox is that it teaches kids the design and mechanical side of game development, but it doesn’t teach the coding side of things. This means that if your child wishes to become a game developer for a career, then he or she will have to learn real coding eventually and start learning how to make games on Unity, Unreal engine, etc. Also, if Roblox disappears tomorrow, then so does your kid’s ability to make money from the game. These are just things to consider about Roblox. It isn’t a bad way to get started, but it has its downsides too.

Work On The Basics First

You may be tempted to create your own lessons about coding, digital design, editing, animation and so forth. However, even though those things are a big part of game creation, you always need to start with coding. Online kids coding classes can focus on the fundamentals while being fun. 

You need to teach your kid how to program using a legitimate and popular coding language. Teach your child this coding language, perhaps by following a guide on how to make a very simple game. A simple game may include a version of Ticktacktoe or something else that is easy to display and easy to run. Try the course or lesson yourself to start with to see if you can follow what is going on. If you can create the Video Game as per the tutorial; then you can work with your kid and the tutorial to create your own lessons.

Which Coding Language Should You Teach?

This is a very tricky one, so you need to really consider what type of games your kid is going to create. If your kid wants to create games to play on his or her iPhone; then research the developer kits on offer from Apple; and find out which coding languages are used primarily for iPhone apps. The same goes for if your kid wants to create PC games, Android games, or even console games.

It may seem ambitious for you to teach your child how to create console Video Game; but indie developers are doing it all the time. The next time you are searching through your PlayStation Plus subscription; scroll all the way to the bottom of the lists and you will see epic amounts of Shovelware (Low-budget; poor-quality video games) that was created by indie developers, some not that much older than your kids. Again, each platform has its own developer kits where it helps you set up the render engines; tell you which coding languages to use; and introduce you to forums where other indie developers are struggling to make games.

Start Small and Start Simple

Earlier in the article, you were advised not to start with the easy stuff. To clarify, that means don’t start with things like a game-creating tool (except maybe Roblox) and it means don’t start with things like Visual Basic.

Instead, you start simply with basic lessons and Video Game, with fundamentals and foundation material. Let your kid know that it takes work, but also allow your child to see results. If you are learning how to color a texture, then let the kid see how different numbers create different colors.

Start small and start simple, and that way, it will become easy for your child. Think of it like teaching a child to swim. You start small and simple with lessons in the shallow part of the pool.

You also have to keep in mind that to some kids, being a developer is a passing fancy. Once they realize that it takes a lot of work to become a developer; they may decide they want to do something else. And, where you should encourage your child to stick to things; the fact is that coding and Video Game development isn’t for everybody. It isn’t as glamorous as it seems on the Internet and many people (especially kids) don’t have the temperament for it. If your child loses interest in becoming a developer; take it on the chin, and perhaps reintroduce your child to coding again; when he or she is in their teenage era and is more amenable to sitting at a computer all day.