8 ms·

+1 My kids and I had a lot of fun with Pico-8, building simple games and learning basic geometry. The community (inherited from Pico-8) is already implementing

+1 My kids and I had a lot of fun with Pico-8, building simple games and learning basic geometry. The community (inherited from Pico-8) is already implementing cat/wget/grep[1] and, of course, Minesweeper[2] in Picotron! Whatever Joseph White/zep is building brings back the early days of Internet and IRC where the everybody builds and shares unashamedly while having a ton of fun! Thank you zep for making computing fun again for more mere mortals! [1]: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=140771 https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=140771 [2]: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=140678 https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=140678

rahimnathwani 2y ago
I'm curious how old your kids were when they started hacking on PICO-8 code? My son (7yo) likes block-based programming (using Scratch, Scratch Jr and Octostudio) and Minecraft, but I'm wondering what a smooth on-ramp might be for PICO-8 or similar. I got my first computer when I was about 10yo, so I was content to read through the books that came with it to learn the basics of BASIC and a little 6502 assembly. But I don't think that will work due to age, availability of other devices etc.
- krumpet 2y ago
  My kids are 12 and 14 and I can't get them interested in coding beyond what they might do at school. They showed an interest in Scratch, but I believe I introduced it WAY too early. Moreover, it moved them too quickly past the creative aspects and into writing code. Also, years later, I showed them PICO-8 and they weren't terribly interested. In hindsight, I would recommend working with them at a young age (<10) to design game art and ideas. Then, the parent implements it and ports it to a portable platform. The child sees the creative aspects and the final output, but is shielded from the coding side in the early days. I imagine a child playing a game they designed on paper with crayons would be really satisfying. It would almost be like magic! Then, let the transition to the coding side happen more organically or through a school program or some such. Maybe when they finally ask, "So, parent, how do I actually code these games?" Just my non-data backed opinion...
  - AlanYx 2y ago
    That's what I've been doing with one of my kids. They're designing the sprites and maps in the PICO-8 sprite editor and I'm taking the lead on showing them how to do the rest. They've also enjoyed tweaking the sprites of existing PICO-8 games.
  - otikik 2y ago
    Yep. My 7yo son is the graphics and gameplay designer, I am the implementor

rahimnathwani 2y ago

I'm curious how old your kids were when they started hacking on PICO-8 code? My son (7yo) likes block-based programming (using Scratch, Scratch Jr and Octostudio) and Minecraft, but I'm wondering what a smooth on-ramp might be for PICO-8 or similar. I got my first computer when I was about 10yo, so I was content to read through the books that came with it to learn the basics of BASIC and a little 6502 assembly. But I don't think that will work due to age, availability of other devices etc.

krumpet 2y ago
My kids are 12 and 14 and I can't get them interested in coding beyond what they might do at school. They showed an interest in Scratch, but I believe I introduced it WAY too early. Moreover, it moved them too quickly past the creative aspects and into writing code. Also, years later, I showed them PICO-8 and they weren't terribly interested. In hindsight, I would recommend working with them at a young age (<10) to design game art and ideas. Then, the parent implements it and ports it to a portable platform. The child sees the creative aspects and the final output, but is shielded from the coding side in the early days. I imagine a child playing a game they designed on paper with crayons would be really satisfying. It would almost be like magic! Then, let the transition to the coding side happen more organically or through a school program or some such. Maybe when they finally ask, "So, parent, how do I actually code these games?" Just my non-data backed opinion...
- AlanYx 2y ago
  That's what I've been doing with one of my kids. They're designing the sprites and maps in the PICO-8 sprite editor and I'm taking the lead on showing them how to do the rest. They've also enjoyed tweaking the sprites of existing PICO-8 games.
- otikik 2y ago
  Yep. My 7yo son is the graphics and gameplay designer, I am the implementor