Aspiring GameMakers

I recently had the amazing opportunity to do a presentation on making games for my son's 2nd grade class. It was on his 8th birthday and I think Callum was thrilled to have his dad showing off some geekery.

I brought in my laptop and projected a few slides. I wanted to let the kids know a few of the skills that are useful for game makers and reinforce that the subjects they're studying are have more utility than they might think. Things to pay attention to in school if you want to make games included:

• Math
• Art
• Music
• Programming (not taught in school, to the detriment of all of us)
• Practice!

The kids added: being smart, knowing about computers, sounds, and a few other terrific suggestions.

I was thrilled by the number of questions that I got about games. I had a group of boys right in the front who were especially eager, but I made a point to call on the girls (who sat in the back) every time that one raised their hands. It was harder to do this than it sounds, especially when there were a bunch of really assertive and excited boys in the front who were clamoring for my attention. 

I used GameMaker:Studio to build a game right in front of them. They were thrilled, and it was a lot of fun. I'd prepared a project (just a simple asteroid game), wiring up the boring controls for keypresses and lined up my art and audio assets. It took about 15 minutes to go from a blank canvas with a moving ship to a playable game.

"Let's add some asteroids!" I said, to which the kids responded "Yeah!"

I added the asteroids on the map and asked them: "What do you think will happen?"

"They're not gonna move," they said. 

"Why not?"

"Because you haven't told it to move yet," they said.

I was super impressed that they'd already grasped this concept, and of course the kids were right.

We finally ended up with the little game you see below. I provided the teacher, Mrs. Bergwall, with a copy of the project and a web-based playable version of the game. You can try it out here.  

What has this experience taught me?

• There is a huge amount of interest, even at age eight, in game programming. 
• The kids had an immediate understanding of simple concepts of programming. I'm pretty sure that my mother would have been way behind the curve in this class of 2nd graders.
• Game making is a great way to teach STEM concepts for kids. 
• Girls were just as thrilled to participate as boys. We've got to find ways to encourage this!
• GameMaker is great for lots of things, and teaching kids how to make games is one of them.

The project file for the game is also available, so the kids can experiment with it. I left the teacher with a list of prompts for the kids if they'd like to hack on it this summer. 

This was one of the most valuable experiences I've had for a while and I feel really glad to have taken the time.