Game Development for Kids

Kids are exposed to learning by playing games at an early age. Hence, their first exposure to coding can include game development. They first learn by editing existing games they have been playing such as Minecraft. Through game development, kids are exposed to the process from start to finish. They get to nurture their ideas to make them interactive for others to play. You can start introducing it with existing educational games like Minecraft.

Kids as young as 7 years of age have started learning to code. As mentioned, kids start game development through games they are already familiar with. Game development involves a lot of visual components, so young kids can start with block-based platforms like Scratch, Blockly, MIT App Inventor, etc.

There are multiple ways to start learning game development. First, you can start with editing games they are familiar with like Minecraft. Then as they get comfortable with editing games, introduce them to platforms that help them create their own games like Roblox, Codea. To nurture their passion for game development, you can enroll your kid in an advanced game development course.

The five essential stages of game development are: discovery, production, testing, release, post-release.

• Discovery: This is the stage where the idea for a game comes to life. The scope of the game as well as what is required to release the game
• Production: This is the stage where you code the various elements of the game - the characters, levels, rules, etc.
• Testing: This is the stage where you discover the bugs in your game and debug the errors to make it ready for an initial release
• Release: The stage where your game is ready to be distributed to the public.
• Post-release: Here is where you create different versions of the game, create bonus levels, build in-game events and new downloadable content.

Here are the 6 steps follow while creating a beginner game:

• Pick a concept. Do you want a water-based game, or a game on current events, multiplayer/single-player, etc
• Gather information. You are creating a game for end-users. Research about what they like, the story, the mechanics of the game.
• Start building. Start coding your game once you have all the information you need
• Refine your concept. Find the hiccups in your concept, how should the character develop, details like the costume/powers of the character, etc.
• Test your game. Here is where you find where your code or logic is breaking. This step involves thoroughly testing all the coding elements of your game.
• Market the finished product. The game is ready for the end consumers to binge on. So work on promoting it on various platforms to maximize visibility.

Codingal’s game development course. is the designed to get kids excited about learning coding and game development by making the learning process fun, engaging, and interactive. In this course, you will learn concepts like storytelling, gameplay best practices, problem-solving, AI-based animation, functional programming.

Sounds interesting? Book a free class with an expert game development teacher today.