Ds wants to learn to make video games

[Cadam]

Anything out there (book, program or camp (in Oregon) that would help him learn to program and make his own video games. He is 10 yo and pretty computer savvy.

[Melora in NC]

My ds got a book for Christmas called The Game Maker's Apprentice: Game Development for Beginners, by Jacob Habgood & Mark Overmars. It includes a software disk for making games. My ds loved the Idea of making games, but he doesn't have much in the way of perserverence yet, so he hasn't done anything with the book yet. I think it would be quite doable, though, for a ten year old with interest & computer skills!

[Dawn E]

for a site called Motherboard Books (http://www.motherboardbooks.com/). The site is rather unimpressive, but the ad was for two books called Computer Science Pure and Simple and the review posted was from a mom of a 13 yo who had begun programming games thanks to the books. Worth a look, I guess. :) They also have an 8-12 yr old program called Logo Adventures. Maybe there is someone around who has used these books.

[catalinakel]

My husband has used this with his gifted students and my son loves it also. Free online
http://education.mit.edu/starlogo-tng/

[genie]

Last summer my dd10 (at the time) attending ID Tech (http://www.internaldrive.com/) camp, but it appears they don't offer one in Oregon. She took a video game design course and learned quite a bit about the design software they used. You can browse the site linked above and see what software they use for each of the classes.

Here are some general websites I have bookmarked that are related in one way or another to video game design:

Game Developer Magazine (http://www.gdmag.com/homepage.htm)

Game Programming for Teens (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592000681/qid=1143261201/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-7330927-7924051?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)

Computer Science Pure and Simple (http://www.motherboardbooks.com/)

Free-ed.net (http://free-ed.net/free-ed/InfoTech/default.asp)

Kids Programming Language (http://www.kidsprogramminglanguage.com/index.php.)

Cosmic Blobs 3D Software (http://www.cosmicblobs.com/)

[Patty Joanna]

Cadam,

Sorry, this is not in Oregon, but in Redmond WA--DigiPen offers this *exact* course in a 2-week camp in the summers. The reason I mention it is that this might help you find something closer to your home. Perhaps a DigiPen campus, or a competitor--not that I know who that would be...

Kind regards,