Good programs for young teens?

1

Unity

Unity and Unreal Engine 5 are more difficult (both Free-ish), but are also used a lot in the industry. A lot of the code these two use are C and C#, so those languages may be ones they should learn if they want.

#Game Development #Game Engine #3D Game Engine 196 social mentions

2

Krita

You also mentioned "game design". Pixilart is a free website for pixel art and animation. There is also Krita, which is basically a free Photoshop. That will be useful if wanting to get into the art/sprite/texture side of game design.

#Concept Art #Art Tools #Illustrations 296 social mentions

3

Godot Engine

Godot and Gamemaker Studio 2 are both very simple programs that do not require coding. I believe Godot is free and GMS2 is free until you want to publish a game. GMS2 also has the option to code once you feel comfortable enough with the drag-and-drop system.

#Game Development #Game Engine #3D Game Engine 446 social mentions