Beginner Android Game Building Application

[bern75]

I have been interested in getting my 10 yr into programming and just the other day he showed me a web page for an program called Buildbox. It is a nice program but it is expensive. I want to get him interested in game programming, instead of just playing the game, I don't want to throw him in the deep end and start with Java programming only to scare him off of programming all together. What I am looking for, is any suggestions, for a game programming application, that is basic (but will let him grow as he learns) and publish the game on Google Play. I would prefer it to not be too expensive but understand that a good game will have some overhead costs.

 

[Rukbat]

If you're going to teach him programming, start with programming (which has no more to do with programming languages than French has to do with being a doctor in France). Programming is a methodology. (I earned my living writing code for 40 years, and the best program I ever saw was written by a mechanical engineer - in English and pictures. I coded it for him.)

"Writing" a game by using a "game writing application" is like paint by number - at very best you produce a fair copy of something that someone else already did, and you don't understand a thing about it.

Ten isn't too young to begin to learn to think logically. (If he's right-brained - not logical - let him become an artist. Short people shouldn't try out for the NBA and people who are 6'6" tall and muscular shouldn't try to be jockeys. Programming is a left-brain activity.) Watch an episode of Scorpion. Programmers think like the Walter character - see a problem, see a program to solve it, just like that. (Figuring out how to make the computer do what the solution is, is the thing that takes time.) If his life isn't a series of things to solve, he won't be a good programmer. If it is, he's already a good programmer, he just has to learn to do it with computers. Kids who recognize Morgan Freeman in their sleep, and think Nova is a great series, make great programmers.

Let him learn programming, even with Logo to start. (It's easy enough for first-graders, but useful enough to learn some pretty complex programming concepts.) If he wanted to learn to play baseball, would you send him to the majors right away?