I have a niece who wants to make a video game. I have 0 experience teaching and am very likely to recommend her some crazy complicated shit that will turn her off to the idea. She’s 8. Anyone have experience with this? Her first instinct was to try and make games in the Roblox engine but I know exactly how exploitative that shit is and how nontransferable those skills are

Libre software is a must

  • synesthesia [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Take a look at Microsoft's MakeCode Arcade. Don't know about libre, but it is open source and you can host it yourself, if you want. Although, the officially hosted version is free to use too.

    It's like Scratch, but geared specifically towards making video games. What's cool is that you can run the games on a variety of hardware, including handhelds under $50. Or build your own.

    I haven't had a chance to teach using Arcade myself, but I can vouch for MakeCode for micro:bit, which is based on the same platform.