So I suppose that, as I have been asking questions without formally introducing myself, I should probably do so.
I’m 47, married teacher, with two college-age kids, and residing in Michigan. I have other hobbies and pursuits on the side (music, writing, martial arts, shooting, theology) and while I’m no expert in any of them, I enjoy them and do work to at least be competent in them for the sake of productivity and enjoyment.
As you can probably guess, I was around when the earliest video games hit the market. I can remember seeing Galaxian and Pac-Man in a Pizza Hut not far from where I lived when I was six. I remember vividly my times spent in arcades, and especially at Chuck-E-Cheese’s (back when they REALLY had an arcade). Some of my fondest memories were of getting a few quarters in my pocket and going with my parents to a place that had video games. I didn’t care what the game was: I just wanted to play it.
And I remember when the Atari was just called the VCS before it was the 2600 as well. Yeah… I’ve got snow on the roof
So for me this is an honor and a pleasure to 1.) learn to actually create video games instead of simply playing them and 2.) to interact with other likeminded people (most of whom could probably run circles around me in basic programming). Thank you for allowing me to be here and to interact!
I’m making games of the old-school 1980s variety, as much as I can. I have thought about making games for students, and I might do that after I become more familiar with the process.
Yeah, when gameplay was more important than graphical effects , efficient code was king, and memory very limited. Do you recall the 1k ram packs (yes, dear fellow GDevelopers, it’s a 1 kilobyte extension plug-on).
Are there any in particular games you liked or are planning to base your games on?
Would you consider making a game with the students, rather than for them? I’ve been teaching GDevelop to year 6-8 kids (10-12 year olds) for an hour a week for a few years now. The whole thing is quite rewarding when you stand back and see how much they’ve learnt and improved over time.
I do recall 1k ram packs, but didn’t have the know-how to set things up with them.
Right now, my first game is something influenced by my time playing Lunar Lander and Lunar Rescue. I’m still working the details out with it, but perhaps when I have it ready I’ll share it with everybody here. Eventually, I’d like to try some more ambitious projects when I get the hang of it a bit better (I’d like to try something Berzerk-themed for my next one, but I have some modifications for it).
I wouldn’t mind the idea of teaching kids how to make a game. I teach junior high kids, mostly, and teach them Spanish. But it’d be a fun thing to try, assuming I could get kids willing to try it.
For some reason that brought back memories of Thrust
Kids quite like GDevelop because it’s easy to get a simple game up & running. Especially for non-coders. It fits in well with the immediate gratification mentality of today. And it’s great for logical thinking development.
dude can you help me with my project? it is with the mechanics of lunar lander i am not able to apply correct impulse with 2d physics to make the ship fly and rotate
