
Ask HN: Looking for a software to code a game with my 8yo kid - xgbi
Hi,<p>We’re confined and my 8yo girl has started designing a video game on paper, centered around horses and riders.<p>She&#x27;s asking me if we could actually program that and have a real thing to show.<p>Since we’re stuck for the moment, i’d like to give it a shot.<p>Do you guys know if there is software out there that has a basic structure in which we could start coding? Something woth a bit of asset mgmt, siund and so on..?<p>Ideally open source but I can spare a few bucks
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tkdc926
[https://scratch.mit.edu/](https://scratch.mit.edu/)

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bananicorn
Have a look at love2d[0] - (or Löve, as they prefer it to be called) It's a
lua-scriptable game framework, where you can at least see results fairly
quickly. All you need is a text editor and the lua executable. It's only
thought for 2d games, but it's got an integrated physics engine (Box2d) and a
bunch of libraries to help with all kinds of things that might come up.

And the community was absolutely lovely last time I checked :)

[0]love2d.org/

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textread
PICO8 might suit your needs if it is a simple game where the focus is on
teaching.

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amerkhalid
Not exactly what you are looking for but I have heard good things about Dreams
on PS4 ([https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/dreams-
ps4/](https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/dreams-ps4/)). I have bought it
but haven't really had a chance to try it yet.

It may not teach programming but might be good enough to learn about basics of
logic, design, assets management, music, sound, etc.

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trilinearnz
GameMaker Studio might be worth a look. It's $39, but there's a 30-day trial
as well. From what I can tell, it's a simpler, more user-friendly alternative
to the likes of Unity. Also, it's from the creator of Lemmings (although he's
since moved on).

[https://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker](https://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker)

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daly
I made a game for Android. Unfortunately the tooling needed is too hard to
explain. But it might help pass the time.

[http://daly.axiom-developer.org/apps/MahLetters-
release.apk](http://daly.axiom-developer.org/apps/MahLetters-release.apk)

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muzani
Construct is a little outdated but still good. Using events instead of code.
It took half an hour to make a little race car game with my 5 year old, and
she started tweaking things like designing the cars and how the race behaves.
There's collision detection, etc, built in.

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h2odragon
[https://godotengine.org/](https://godotengine.org/)

I've heard good things about it, but never used it. When I get around to the
project that needs it, I plan to.

