Game design competition, for children?

December 16, 2014 9:32 AM

Do you know of a program like First Lego League, but for game design? This is for some 12-year-olds who are into programming, and could benefit from more structure.

We know about Kahn Academy and code.org; they're great, but they're not what we're looking for.
We're in the US, near Seattle.

posted by The corpse in the library to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

I've been watching this question, and the fact that you've got no responses indicates this probably isn't a thing.

So I'm going to put in a plug for FIRST Lego League or probably the next step up, FIRST Tech Challenge. I believe FTC is more flexible in terms of programming languages, where FLL locks you into the Lego Mindstorms stuff. If you've got 12-year-olds programming to the point where a game design challenge seems reasonable, FLL might feel too basic from a programming standpoint (although there is a lot more to it than programming - there's some basic physical engineering for robot design and product design in the project).

My daughter has done FLL for two years, and I was HEAVILY involved this past season. I found it to be a well-run and enriching experience for the kids.
posted by jeoc at 4:44 PM on December 18, 2014

Best answer: Late breaking answer!

How about this: National Stem Video Game Challenge .
posted by jeoc at 6:39 PM on January 18, 2015