Creating super basic games for 4-yo niece

January 31, 2017 3:51 AM

I want to create small and fun little video games for my 4-yo niece. By simple I mean already made games where I for example can paste her adorable little face as the heroine or maybe change the level background with her birthday photo. Have you done something like this? Any tool suggestions?
posted by Foci for Analysis to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Best answer: One of the things my four year old niece loves is playing puzzles on her grandma's ipad. There are lots of apps out there (for various platforms) that simulate the experience of putting together a puzzle, with settings that let you pick a number of pieces, whether the pieces are rotated or not, etc. Many of them have an option to allow you to upload your own picture to the app and use it. She really likes to do puzzles of herself.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:05 AM on January 31, 2017

Best answer: Have you tried using Scratch? I'm not a programmer but have used it to make some very simple games to amuse my daughter (6 at the time). E.g. a very simple (and buggy) platformer with her favourite Adventure Time characters that I got from an image search, this bubble popping game, and this maze game. It's very easy to swap out the sprites with images of your choosing. You can also remix games from the community instead of making ones from scratch.

A potential side benefit is your niece becoming interested in modifying the games herself, and gently familiarising her with programming concepts.
posted by snarfois at 8:35 AM on January 31, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: jacquilynne, that's a nice idea considering she uses the tablet so much.

snarfois, trying out Scratch as I type this and it seems really fun and easy to use. Think this is a winner!
posted by Foci for Analysis at 10:28 AM on January 31, 2017

Response by poster: I've just made a princess scream and run away if you click on her. Click again and she farts and runs the other way.

Can't wait til my niece's face farts. And Elsa, have to add Elsa.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 10:45 AM on January 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: omfg i'm going to create a digital activity board with farts and princesses and spiderman jaaaaaaaaaaaas
posted by Foci for Analysis at 10:54 AM on January 31, 2017 [2 favorites]