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I'll probably be vilified for this, but if you are using Windows (or Mac), try Game Maker (Mac version is beta). It's a good introduction to a lot of programming concepts using a construction set like metaphor. After you learn the basics, it's easy to move to just code. Game Maker is free, many schools use it, and it was developed by university professor as a teaching aid.

http://www.yoyogames.com/make

Read the manual, do the tutorials, work your way up to GML code, take your questions to the GMC forums. Once you learn GML (which is similar to C and PHP, but allows Pascal style code as well), you'll be able to pick up other languages easily. Most programming languages are very similar.

There is also a book, The Game Maker's Apprentice, if you feel the need to purchase something.

http://book.gamemaker.nl/

Have a look at this book. I have a copy that was given to me over the last holiday. It's kind of fun, and might give you a taste of making games:

The Game Maker's Apprentice

I made it through the first several chapters before I was distracted, and forgot about it.

From the articles linked, it appears to be nothing more than a GameMaker "game" which adds registry entries which cause shutdown.exe and logoff.exe to be called when you log in.

In fact, if this was considered malware... perhaps marginally, although it has no serious effects... it isn't a virus because it doesn't replicate itself and spread. The guy who wrote it is obviously a wannabe hacker... you know, the kind who use pre-built tools without a clue how they work. Except this guy couldn't even find tools so he used a game creation system. Lame.

There are various Logo environments, some are free. They are great for kids that know a few letters (see http://el.media.mit.edu/Logo-foundation/)

There used to be a free program by Prof. Mark Overmars called Drape (see http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/markov/kids/drape.html) but unfortunately it is no longer available for free download (though there might be ways to get a copy). It's advantage over Logo is that it is used through a graphic interface and does not require the child to know anything about letters (perhaps it has some value as a preparation to reading as it makes a child realize how sequences of sybols arranged in different ways have different meanings.

The real reason to let kids use these is that it gives them more ways to be creative. It is not supposed to completely replace things like building blocks or Legos.

Game Maker (see http://www.gamemaker.nl/) by the same Prof. Overmars is suitable for older kids. My 6 year old child can do some things with it (actually he did when he was 5) but it's really not for his level and his success owes a lot to help from his 12 years old brother. For older kids it is a great way to learn programming in an environment that balances their needs for fast results with the ability to do complicated programming (and I've seen my older son progressing from simple graphic UI programming by dragging icons around and editting their property sheets to using more and more scripting). It's Windows only and the author claims it is not suitable for open sourcing or porting to other platforms as the code is too Windows-centric, but I think it can serve as a good model for creating a similar open source alternative - a programming environment that grows with the child.

Finally: even a standard graphics program such as MS Paint can let a child be creative, especially if a child learns to use Google images and copy/paste images to his/her own work. My younger son convinced himself at the age of 4 that he needs to learn to read because this is the key to obtain images from Google, and that he needs to learn English because searching in English produces more and better search results.

Prof. OverMars has one more cool program that kids can use to be creative and it is "Drawing for Children" (see http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/markov/kids/draw.html). It is not a replacement for a standard graphics program but it lets kids be creative in a different way (composing images from erady made components.) I think it has some cool things like fractal-based generation of trees, letting the child "draw" a forest with each tree a randomly generated fractal. (I haven't followed Tux paint too much. Does it have these things? Tux paint have a problem of "too many penguins". It makes a child's drawing look like a Windows desktop after an ISP instalation disk has been run, assuming the ISP's logo is a penguin ;-) ).

Maybe consider Game Maker as a stepping stone to full-fledged programing. It's used very successfully in many beginning computer programming courses, and was in fact written by a professor of computer programming. It's drag and drop interface is very easy to use at the start and can teach basic logic, and its scripting language is very C-like and can be used introduce object oriented programming concepts.

http://www.gamemaker.nl/teachers.html

BASIC is a horrible language for learning to code

So what, we're not talking about optimization here, we are talking about getting kids to sit at the computer, think logically, use APIs/Libraries, and CREATE!
Yes there are better languages to use, but don't forget just how many many kids found their calling in life despite the shortcomings of BASIC.

he is introduced at an early age to the computer as a toy and treats it as a toy while growing up.

This is a "good thing". It is the natural way to go. Small kids pick up a hammer, and HEY, it makes sounds. Toy. Later they go "hey, let's build a tree-house", still a toy, but becomming a tool. Finally they have a home workshop, and the hammer has become indispensible.
I have played hundreds if not thousands of games over the years. I still think of the computer as a toy. However, that doesn't stop me from getting paid a very competitive wage for working on it.

On a related note:
I tried some BASIC with my boys, but it just really wasn't working. I switched to Logo, and got better traction. Finally, I found GameMaker, and it is a real treat! I think it promotes an excellent balance of creativity, logic, and computer savvy.

Main GameMaker page here.

Scheme greatly impaired my ability to program--it's logic is counterintuitive to what kids that age are learning. OOP is dang near impossible, and it's rather an advanced task to make anything graphically interesting.
May I suggest Game Maker? It's interpreted, free, and graphically very powerful. Kids can drop pictures into the software and use the drag and drop programming interface to create full-fledged games. You can make a simple game in as little as 5 minutes, yet Game Maker has enough complexity to grow into whatever you wish to teach (even 3D in the $20 registered version). It has a built-in language--GML script--as well, in case you wish to teach more traditional coding. If you want a software package that allows kids access to the entire range of programming logic, yet allows them almost instantaneous feedback (eg, import a picture, set it as an object's sprite, drop it in a "room," and you have a working program), Game Maker is the best I can possibly suggest. There's even a book--The Gamemaker's Apprentice, that was just recently released by the software's author. And there really is no better way to teach concepts like OOP and inheritance. As you can almost certainly deduce, I've been an enthusiastic user of the software for several years now, and I often prefer it to many of the packages I learned in college!
http://www.gamemaker.nl/

I teach computers at an international school in Tokyo Japan. My students vary in age from grade 6 to grade 9. As you can imagine, they also vary in English language ability. Here is my curriculum:

Grade 6: Drape - A drag and drop programming language (No longer free but you can downloa it from my homepage).

Grade 7: Game Maker - A more complex drag and drop programming language created by the same person who created Drape.

Grade 8: Kids Programming Language - A BASIC-like programming language with easy to use graphics (sprite) capabilities and built in functions such as collision detection. Note that an updated version with 3D graphics capablities will soon be released (around Sept. 2006).

Grade 9: JavaScript - I use a program called Max's HTML Beauty++ for editing JavaScript and NVU for web design.

I have also used Small Basic and my own JavaScript Interactive Fiction engine.

You can find downloads of most of these programs and some lesson plans at my homepage.

Feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.

And we all know Game Maker is far superior to The Games Factory :-P

They need a PARENT to encourage them ...
They need the right environment at home.
And they don't need competing forms of passive entertainment (TV).
Don't expect the school system to do it for you.

My 11 years old son Daniel programs using a variety of tools and has been doing so for a couple of years already (Visual basic, a variety of flavors of Logo, Game Maker. I'll let /.ers find out what he's using in this photo). He also does other creative things like creating scenes and animations using Art of Illusion - this also involves kind of programming, like creating procedural textures/materials. He learns some math/geometry doing this, since his programming experience drives him to manipulate the data (coordinates) directly to get exact results. He also learns some physics for getting the right results, like making gravitation work close to correct in this game (/.ers should be able to tell what link is the game. Hint: the file extension is .exe*). (well... It not just parent encouragement. After school activity played an important role. School only taught him to use the computer as a typewriter).

His 5 year old brother Jonatan already learned to do some "visual programming" using Game Maker, producing working games (though still not one another kid would want to play with. He does get useful things produced this way: Birthday "greeting cards" that can only be made using programming). The need to do everything that his big brother does is enough motivation.

___________________________
* I thought that the game should really be open sourced (or "free-softwared") but the Game Maker "sources" (.gm6 files) are actually binary, and though the license allows distribution of the created games, it's not clear to me how exactly it can be done with an Open source or CC license. Compiling the "sources" requires (gratis) proprietary software.

** comments, and suggestions of useful software that can encourage kids to becreative are welcome.

I gave a class last sunday to a group of 11 year old kids on how to make games with GameMaker. While at the begin all kids wanted to recreate GTA:SA or at least any 3D game after a quick lesson explaining that GTA is just a maze game where you walk around, collect stuff and do some shooting they started building maze games.

After working an hour on maze games each has already layed the basics of there game and really love the ability to have created something and be in control off everything that happens. Ofcourse this ends as soon as these kids show there games to somebody else who notices it's a boring maze game but with a little bit of class these kids got inspired to make there own games.

Children can get really motivated to work on games and as a Game Maker user I see that the avarage age off the kids is perhaps 13-14 years old and these games are nowhere near commercial quality but still, I've seen a few people (myself included) to grow out of this environment and earn money on programming computer games.

These kids are still there, you just have to know where to look.

I'm using the programming language Game Maker (4th generation, Object Oriented with 3th generation programming language) and I notice the avarage age within the Game Maker Community is about 14 years old. Lots of children are still interested in programming and creating programs and are willing to spend large amounts of time in this. This program is to used more and more on schools around the world and children really are motivated to create computergames.

Last sunday I gave a class on how to make computer games at a group of 11 year old kids and they really loved the idea of being in control and making there own games. The only disadvantage is that all these kids want to create the next 3D GTA game. But kids really do still spend lots of time in programming.

This isn't true if you know where to look. Game Maker provides an entirely drag and drop interface to game development. Of course you'll need to find sprites to use in the games, or have/be a very talented artist to make something that looks really good. It's also relatively easy to extend the programs you make by using thier c/c++ style scripting language or building/using dlls.

If they really want to allow for open game development, providing NES/SNES/N64 devkits wouldn't be the best way of doing it. What's the point of providing an easy development platform if you're going to restrict indie devs to some 20-year-old piece of hardware? I'm not too knowledgeable on the subject, but it seems like it would be much easier for devs to have a dumbed-down version of the complete Rev dev kit. Even if it significantly limited their software, they'd still have access to the full power of the hardware, rather than an emulated 2MHz processor and 2KB of virtual RAM.

What I'd like to see (and the GP hinted at it) is something like GameMaker made available for the Rev. It's a really simple, object-oriented, drag-and-drop game construction program. I've messed around with it a little bit, and the program makes it really easy to create just about any type of 2D game. It's a bit restrictive and inefficient, but it gets the job done, with little or no programming knowledge required. If Nintendo would provide something like that, I think the fanbase would go nuts.

This way is a lot easier. http://forums.gamemaker.nl/index.php?showtopic=147 613&hl=

> * Katamari vs. Doom - "We Love Demons!": Roll demons up into a >ball, starting with the tiniest of demons, up to monstrous demons >the size of hell, all of which struggle to kill you. Use powerful >ball-rolling weapons such as the chain-firing gun and the BFG(big >freaking gumball) to assist you in your task.

There is Doom Hunt!!!

If you want to develop for Windoze, I'd still would recommend GameMaker by Mark Overmars.

Its easy to use and quite powerful. 2D games are a breeze to make and since version 6, you can now make 3D games as well.

The GML programming language is very simular to object oriented C so you can make your games as complex as you would like to.

The forums are also a great resource for people just getting started.

If you want to develop for Windoze, I'd still would recommend GameMaker by Mark Overmars.

Its easy to use and quite powerful. 2D games are a breeze to make and since version 6, you can now make 3D games as well.

The GML programming language is very simular to object oriented C so you can make your games as complex as you would like to.

The forums are also a great resource for people just getting started.

That's about the same age my younger son Jonatan started using the computer intensively. The older one (Daniel) started a bit later (about 4 1/2). But we had a laptop with only a touchpad back then so it was more difficult for him. Last year the children's demand for the computer became so high that I set them up with their own computers (photo of their room, that my wife would never have allowed me to publish if she could prevent it...).

Whatever they play, on the computer or not on the computer, the most important thing is that it should be a tool to aid their creativity, not to limit it. In "Hardware toys" it means things like Lego basic constrution sets (and other manufacturers. Both quality and quantity are mportant factors here: lack of each limits the child's creativity).

With Daniel we started with some cheap commercial games from Office Depot clearance. I don't think it's the right way. These quite limit the child to following instructions.

With Jonatan, we didn't make the effort to look for things to buy. He's a second child... So it was more like finding whatever we have that can occupy him so he doesn't bother us, and it worked better. M$ Paint turned out to be really great for him. It was simple enough to use, and he was very creative with it. Then he discovered Google: he uses Google images to look for pictures, then he cpopies and pastes them into his own works (He got a bit addicted to Google, and when we went on a 3 weeks vacation and he didn't have acess to the computer he was drawing pictures of the Google logo with his crayons... A few months ago when he wanted to find something his granfather told him it cannot be found on Google. So he said to his Grandpa: "Grandpa, anything can be found on Google if you know how to look for it!". Even searching Google requires creativity).

Another good piece of Children's software that encourages creativity is Drape (Drawing Programming Environment). It is a sort of programming environment similar to to Logo in some respect, but not exactly the same. One advantage is that it allows for very easy mouse interaction, so a child can create things that "work" quite easily (i.e., with just a bit of adult intervention). Form the same source, Game Maker is more suitable for older children. It is a programming environment to create games, either by using drag and drop or a builtin programming language. I've seen nice cooperation between the younger and older brother here: the young one chooses the objects and graphics, and drwas the levels of the games. The older one completes the game by adding the more abstract parts: actions and interactions. Logo is of course a very good thing for children. For the smaller ones the online r-logo is very easy and fun to use. For more serious Logo programming MSWlogo is a much more powerful implementation (including 3-dimensionality and multi-tasking). There's no need to "choose one". My son Daniel first thinks of an idea he wants to implement, then chooses the most appropriate tool, just like a programmer choosing the most appropriate programming languge for the job (he has several flavors of Logo and choses the one that has what he needs for a project. He also uses Visual Basic that he learned at school).

What else?
For several months my kids were addicted to Enigma. It's "just a game", but actually it involved loads of creativity in solving an entirely different puzzle in each level, and has the right balance between sing the brain and coordinating mo

Game Maker is actually a programming environment. It is free as in beer (or milk if it is for kids) unless you want the extras. It is used by Prof.dr. M.H. Overmars of Universiteit Utrecht as the basis of course on game design. The students think they are learning how to make games but what they are actually learning is event driven programming. It might be more fun to learn to program in this environment, especially for kids, and not just for boys. My kids are right now quite addicted to GameMaker. Even 5 years old Jonatan can design a bit with the help of 11 years old Daniel. Daniel is just making games most of the time this summer, and learning programming on the way (last year he learned Logo, and also VB at school, but Game Maker is much more fun...).

Arr, you could just start coding in assembly if ye want to be a big shot, er ya cuud just use Game Maker.

http://www.gamemaker.nl/

Drag and drop style programming. Very nice way to get into game programming if you do not have much experience with programming languages. Shareware too.

GameMaker is an excellent tool for learning about making your own games. It handles all of the low level things like graphics and audio for you so you concentrate on actually designing the game. It was mainly for learning 2D programming, but with the most recent release, Mark Overmars added some 3D functionality and its quite amazing what people have done with it. It is also quite cheap shareware (about $20 or so) and you can still use most of the functions using the free version.

Download Here

Requires Gamemaker 5.3a to edit the source but there is an exe to see the engine in action.

Ah, it seems they used GameMaker.

I just dropped this course last week. I was kind of disappointed by it. The texts are a book on game design and Sam's Teach Yourself Game Programming in 24 Hours. The classes are fairly unstructured. Either the professor is running down bullet points from the next chapter on game design principles or we're working on our projects. So far, two projects have been assigned for the semester. One has come and gone and the other was just assigned. The first was an independent game (think "flash game") using a program called Game Maker. The second is a group project involving Game Maker.

I'm holding out until next semester, when there is supposed to be someone hired from the game industry specifically for the purpose of teaching this course. I have high hopes for the curriculum as a whole, but think I'd rather reap the benefits from lessons learned by the inaugural group rather than stumble through unchartered territory.

GameMaker is a free/shareware development kit that has syntax very simular to C++.

It is windoze only and has its limits, however it is a great starting point to learn about how games work.
It is mainly 2D based programming, but since the release of 6.0, Mark Overmars (its creator) added quite a bit of 3D functionality.
There is even a tutorial for making your own basic FPS, but from what I've seen on the forums, some people have figured out how to do some really cool stuff with it.

Tell them to pick a project that interests them, and then let them implement their ideas with high level tool like The Game Maker ( www.gamemaker.nl ) that contains an easy to use story board, paint, and scripting system.

Game maker, the older versions are completely free, newer ones have some features hidden until registration.

http://www.gamemaker.nl/

Finally a platform for people who use Gamemaker to make games!

I posted a similar article almost a year ago for a class I was doing for kids about that age. I ended up using Game Maker, which worked very well - it let them experience various aspects of game design, such as graphics, sound, gameplay, collision detection, without having to do it all from scratch in a low level language. We just used the graphical interface, but it also has a scripting language for more complicated programming. After 10 hours of class time, the kids were able to take a fully playable game home with them.

I came across this a while back but didn't do much more than glance at it. It allows one to create games "without the need to write a single line of code" (quoted from the home page). It uses a lot of GUI elements to define logic. Windows based. I was considering it as a way to entertain my niece but decided it was too complicated at that stage.

They can keep up because the tools to do what was expensive a few years ago are affordable today. I'll cite an example of my own creation: Using the free integrated development tool, "Game Maker," I made a game in 72 hours for a competition. You can see the game here on Simtel. It's a fairly simple kind of game that you might've seen in the mid to late 80s selling for $30-40, and likely with graphics of lesser quality, too(the tiles probably would have been better and more diverse with more time to play with them, but they didn't have the same resolution or color depth then). It would have taken probably at least a month to make, depending on the platform. But I did a 2003 equivalent in three days, with 10 levels, sound and music and recordable high scores, because I had the tools to do it.

A small team today can get into game development through the shareware market, which has always had its share of diamonds among a rubble of uninspired clones and "1,000,000 variations on Solitare." Consider 3drealms and Epic, both of whom brought themselves up through shareware sales. There are developers today pulling out success at the "low" end, too, like Popcap, Dexterity, and GarageGames. But you'll notice that they never go in the console market, because consoles realistically are a playground for the industry giants, with a market that faces significant challenge in expanding demographic reach(it's a chicken-egg situation - no games to appeal to a new segment, no segment to buy those games) and no method of distribution outside of retail.

A lot of attention is put on the console market, where it seems like a lot of action takes place. And it seems like big budgets lock small developers out. But in reality, larger budgets mean less innovation. All the best games of today are evolutions or reworkings of previous games. GTA3 comes from GTA, which itself was taking a new angle on the maze games of yesteryear(Pac-Man etc.) The Sims is a new angle on Simcity. Diablo 2 is a new angle on Rogue. All the Lucasarts games have their heritage in ADVENT. These are not triumphs of technology, but good design and well-rounded development. It stands to reason that in reality, there is nothing stopping a small developer. Their only limit is that they can't push the envelope in ways that will break their bank. If they want to go for the high end, they can start small and build up with sequels that evolve the technology each time. The market will prove whether or not they are worthy. And the little guys will never get hopelessly far behind, either.