What do you recommend for elementary aged students to begin learning game design?

Sorry, I'm not sure where to post this thread. Please move it to the necessary subforum.

I have a student of mine who is interested in game design. His parents would like to encourage whatever realistic dreams he has (since prior to wanting to "grow up and be a game designer" he said he wanted to grow up and be a ninja ). However, the mother said that she doesn't know where or how to find resources to encourage his learning. I offered to make a list for her of some possible learning solutions.
He's in the first grade, so complex software might be tough for him. My class is an English class and not a technology class, so I also wouldn't exactly have time to sit down with him and guide him on how to use complex software. It needs to be something that he himself can figure out or something simple that the parents can assist with.
The Unity Lego game I thought was pretty good which lead me here to the forums. Unfortunately the tutorial ends quickly and after that, without much guidance I don't know if he could make any other levels on his own. Maybe in a few years he might, but right now...maybe too complex.

However, games like Mario Maker or other simple level builders would be great! I don't know what platforms he has at home, so just suggest them all, I'll vet them (make sure it's content the parent would approve of) and I'll pass them along. (I know he loves Minecraft, so no need to recommend that one)
Also of course some software if there is any child-friendly stuff, like...a beginners game engine?
And if there are any books, videos, or anything else that might help him explore game design please tell me about those too!
We want to get him thinking about how games are made, so anything that can help him explore his creativity, ask "why is this fun?", or explore the gears behind his hobby would be great!

Thank you

 

How about designing his own board games as paper prototypes? It's gamedesign, but without the digital tech challenges.
You might be able to find some good info about teaching boardgame design to kids on the boardgamegeek forum.

 

Try Nintendo Game Builder Garage.

Also, he's in first grade. Next week he's going to want to be a firefighter, and the week after he'll want to be a dinosaur. Probably best to let him dabble in Game Builder Garage whenever it piques his interest, and just play lots of games and make-believe when that's more of what he's in the mood to do.

 

Trust me, we're aware of this. He also likely doesn't realize how much work goes into making a game and once he realizes it, that ninja option might be looking pretty appealing again. It's okay, though. We just want to encourage whatever interests he has.
The suggestion looks really good though! So thank you for that!
Also Martin's suggestion was also good.

 

I used to work with abused kids at a shelter and when a kid wanted to learn game design I found that infinite runners were the best entry point.

They can focus on the core mechanic while easily increase difficulty.

Also it teaches a very core concept that many adults miss.

It’s all about the mechanics, everything else is just aesthetics.

But with a kid that young it may be a good idea to make a simple setup and let them design stages. Something like Super Mario Brothers.

 

Did you consider using Scratch?
It is superb for young learners, without so much of technical hurdle.

 

I agree that Scratch is the right place for kids as young as first grade to begin.

When he outgrows that — which could take a while — then I hope you'll forgive me for suggesting my own Mini Micro environment, which is a gentle and fun introduction to "programming by typing." In fact I have an introductory programming book aimed at kids which just came out today. PM me if you'd like me to send you a copy to give him (perhaps he can hang onto it and just enjoy the cute illustrations until he's ready).

 

Infinite runner? That is interesting.

 

If he's truly into game design then I'd agree with the board games and Mario Maker suggestions. And as a first grader they're fine things to mess with anyway.

The main catch I see with people who say that they want to be a "game designer" is that they don't know what that means. They use it as a catch-all term for anyone involved in making games. Which is fine, I'm not going to pick on a non-expert's use of industry lingo - especially not a first grader! The relevance is that there are different skills involved in making games, and figuring out which one(s) he's interested in could both hold his interest, and come in handy when teaching other stuff later on.

For instance, so many times when I asked what something in maths was used for outside of the classroom, my teachers couldn't tell me. Looking back, about 80% of the time they could legitimately have said "game programmers use this stuff almost daily".

 

oh yeah, I walked a kid through making a corridor infinite runner where the player could move left and right or jump.

it taught them the importance of pooling, how to increase difficulty fairly, how to reign in scope (clearly I learned nothing from my own teachings), and how to make the most basic character controller.

also, it took like 2 hours.

 

Thanks guys for your responses! I've already made some suggestions to his mom. I appreciate all your help, and sorry I haven't been super present in this thread.

 

My suggestion is to buy a tabletop game like X Wing, and a small number of expansions, and teach them the official rules for the game.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/x-wing-second-edition/

After they have a handle on that, then have them try to come up with their own ideas. Maybe start with how they would change the rules of the game, have them play test their own modified rules. Maybe even have them come up with their own tabletop game around some other favorite IP. Since this is a learning exercise, and not a product the kids will be selling, you're pretty much free to ignore copyright and trademark issues for what the kids create.

Tabletop games are great for thinking about game design, because they break down the process of how a game works into a single ordered list of events (do this step, followed by the next, and the next, etc). Where in a video game, even though much of it actually works the same, you're intentionally tricked into thinking many things are happening at the same time when they are really not. If you want to move on to video games after they have a good understanding of tabletop games, go for it.

 

Cool!

 

That is so cool - I hope it does well, good luck!

 

Yeah, I agree with this. Unity is great and all, but it's a tool aimed at professional developers who have the experience to deal with the aches and pains that come with it. I'd hate for some young, aspiring game developer to spend days and days working on their dream game, only to be stopped-dead with picky little compiler errors like the famous "'MinAttribute' is an ambiguous reference between 'UnityEngine.PostProcessing.MinAttribute' and 'UnityEngine.MinAttribute'" and so on. Most kids parents won't have the expertise to be able to help with this either. I think that would be pretty discouraging for a beginner.

 

I agree with that. I wouldn't recommend the engine to beginners. Just the other day I saw somebody who is learning 101 and they had a question about compiler error, and the suggestions are that this is a bug and they now need to perform a number of steps they aren't going to understand in order to solve it...

But what I really wanted to add is the @JoeStrout 's recently published book is a great introduction not just for kids but adults as well, as well as the mini micro app that it works in tandem with.