Before thinking about what I was getting into, I said, "why don't we make our own?"
Now he asks me every day!
I'm a designer, with some front-end knowledge, but I know nothing about creating apps or games.
As far as platforms, iOS is probably our easiest route, but let me know. Should we go with Unity?
If you have other tips outside of just making the thing, I'd lover to hear those as well.
Do not make the technical decisions until you first understand the reasons why they need to be made.
Is the goal of this exercise to have a completed video game as the end result, or to have a child motivated to learn how to make such games? If the latter, it may be prudent to build up to the final product, by starting with "Hello World", implementing command-line interface "Tic-Tac-Toe" or "Hunt the Wumpus", moving on to a 2-D falling tetromino game, doing a simple 3-D demo, and so on.
But either way, the initial focus should be on making a fun game, and the details of the execution subordinate at all times to the question "Does this make it more fun to play?"
We've already began the planning and sketching stages, but we want to get our hands dirty soon.
No matter what the end result is, this will be a great learning experience.
For simple cross platform maybe gamesalad.com
My kid has played a few different iOS games that are made to teach programming basics to kids (Hopscotch, Light Bot, etc).
I've also created some simple CSS animation stuff on CodePen for them to mess with colors, speed, etc.
I haven't heard of Gamesalad, I'll check that out.
[0] - https://scratch.mit.edu
[1] - https://www.edx.org/course/programming-scratch-harveymuddx-c...
Unity3D is great but it will likely be overwhelming for a 7 year old and for you as well given your background.
Good luck.
I got interested in graphic design as a teenager, and had tons of UI ideas about the desktop, software interfaces, etc. I also loved video games, so it wasn't long before I was trying to find ways to get my designs into the games I was playing.
The first time I ever realized a game could be modded was playing the DOS game Scorched Earth. You control little tanks that shoot each other (like Worms) and when you die they say a quote. Our computer teacher at school had modified the text file to include school-specific quotes and I knew that not every version of the game was like that.
Many PC games have active modding communities. I was a young teenager as Quake3 mods were popular, and so I got a really good glimpse at how add-on content can enhance a game. It wasn't long before I got involved with an open-source FPS project (Nexuiz released 2005, now forked and developed as Xonotic). As a 2D artist, I mostly worked on loading screens, the menu UI, the in-game UI, but I met a team of global volunteers from all around the world that became friends. I learned about programming, I got to 'shadow' and understand every role inside a game development team, and I got to have the thrill of shipping a product and playing against strangers inside the game I helped to create! All this before I was finished high school.
My advice to you and your son would be to start small with Minecraft mods, or something where you can immediately put the skills you have to use and see changes. This keeps you interested as you learn about and develop skills related to game design you don't currently have (3d modelling, game engine programming, audio engineering, etc).
I would also encourage you to contribute or join some open source game projects that are looking for contributors or volunteers. For me this was a social life-saver as a teenager, as well as an amazing educational experience.
Best of luck to you and your child, you have a wonderful adventure ahead of you!
