Based on our record, Scratch seems to be a lot more popular than Ludum Dare. While we know about 558 links to Scratch, we've tracked only 4 mentions of Ludum Dare. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.
I never tried it, I don't have a quickly accessible game programming framework. Nor the time, heh. [1]: https://ludumdare.com/#schedule. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
Sign up for game jams like Ludum Dare 51 and Global Game Jam. Take part in those and learn what it's like to be a hobbyist game developer first. It's a low-risk approach to seeing if this scratches your itch. Source: over 1 year ago
Once he feels like he knows the engine he chose, have him test his skills in game dev code jams. Code jams usually give a theme and a time limit, and everything must be created in that time limit. Ludum Dare is probably the most famous one, but there are tons happening all the time. Just pick a weekend, pick a jam, and get ready to pull an all-nighter. Source: about 2 years ago
The reason I think it was before #37 is that I think it was in the old site ludumdare.com instead of the new site ldjam.com. Source: about 3 years ago
LiveCode is about the closest literal logical successor to HyperCard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiveCode?wprov=sfti1 That said, I think Scratch is a better learning environment these days and you can develop workable apps in the style of HyperCard. There are plenty of tutorials, documentation, and examples to work from. https://scratch.mit.edu. - Source: Hacker News / 2 days ago
And https://codecombat.com, which has been around for a while now. I think this paradigm (navigating a character using "move" function invocations) is good but kind of exhausts its usefulness after a while. I question whether my daughter learns coding this way or just is playing a turn based top down platformer. The most code like thing is when you use 'loops' to have characters repeat sequences of moves. I... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
+1 Scratch! My son started with it, then expanded into Roblox/Lua. Children can download other people's games and experiment there. Scratch also has pre-made art, sounds, music. https://scratch.mit.edu/. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
I am also going to highly recommend Scratch[1]. That is what got me into a programming around that age. You can even help him make a website to host his games on. [1]: https://scratch.mit.edu/. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
This ! Learning to code will come after, spending time with your son writing down ideas might be more fun at first and it's a good time to teach him that games are thoughts first and then coded after. I would have recommended Scratch [1] for a first introduction instead of hoping into code right away, but since he is 9yo he will most likely want to hop on big game engine like he sees his favorite youtubers doing.... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
Game A Week - This one is informal, and doesn't have a strong community yet, but it is growing. It is promoted by Adrieal Wallick, here's her GDC talk http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/227022/Video_Lessons_learned_from_trying_to_make_a_game_a_week.php .
Code.org - Code.org is a non-profit whose goal is to expose all students to computer programming.
itch.io - An online game marketplace and community.
Godot Engine - Feature-packed 2D and 3D open source game engine.
Levels.fyi - Compare career levels across software eng and other fields
GDevelop - GDevelop is an open-source game making software designed to be used by everyone.