Nowadays there are so many different genres of video games, and so many different ways to play. I remember being a ten year old wishing I could make my own video games, especially Mario games because I loved the Super Mario Bros. games so much. A few years ago, Nintendo answered my prayers, and released Super Mario Maker on the Wii U, which wasn't a great console, and was soon phased out to to welcome the Nintendo Switch, which is an amazing console. In Super Mario Maker, Nintendo gave you all of the tools to make your own Mario levels to play. Not only that, but they had some tutorials to teach you how to make the games, and then share them online with both friends, family and the whole world for other Super Mario Maker players. It was like an infinite Mario game because millions and millions of levers were created.
A couple of years ago, Super Mario Maker 2 was released on the Nintendo Switch. They gave you even more tools to make more Mario levels to play. Not only that, but they had some tutorials to teach you how to make the games. You can also choose which age you want your level to look like. They have a few like, the original Nintendo system, Super Nintendo, Wii, Wii U, and Nintnedo Switch, and they quadrupled the number of items and tools to make your levels. It was revolutionary. Although, it's basically a drag and drop system, with a few options to make things behave the way you want them to, and my son Elliot, he is ten, but eight at the time, built a few Mario levels that are so cool, and people around the world have played them, since you can share up to 100 levels, and even make a "world" full of your levels, and people around the world at randomly playing Elliot's levels. Basically, it's easy enough for an eight year old to make cool levels, and my niece that is Elliot's age, loves making levels.
Tons of video games are now trying to be educational, as well as fun, and I don't see that rotting your brain. With that logic, any entertainment that involves a screen would be rotting your brain. I do believe that too much screen time in children will create a form of ADHD where they can't sit still and concentrate on anything longer than twenty seconds, but that's another topic, and my opinion.
Now that I mentioned Super Mario Maker 2, and how cool it is, I want to mention a new game that Nintendo released a couple of weeks ago, Game Builder Garage. Game Builder Garage looks simple, and bare bones, but that's just the surface, if you dig into it for more than five minutes, it grabs your attention, and teaches you how to create a little game with a little robot who needs to jump to get an apple to win the level, but your robot can't jump. That's when it introduces you to the Programing screen. The Programing screen also looks bare bones, but the game tells you to tap here or there on the screen, and all of a sudden, you see tons and tons of tools to program your very own games. The game in the very beginning shows you how to program the robot so that he can jump up to get the apple and win the level, which actually gives you a sense of accomplishment, and makes you want to continue.
Game Builder Garage then tells you that it will walk you through seven different types and genres of video games, but they don't do it for you, it explains how to do it, and then walks you through it. The first game takes probably close to an hour to complete, but that whole time, you are learning how to code and program a game.
In between the games, there is a "checkpoint" station. They won't let you continue to the next game until you pass all of the checkpoints. The checkpoints either tell you to program something from scratch, or will take you to a game that isn't working and needs you to go in and fix the programing. They are basically tests that help you internalize the code and programing skills you have just learned, even though it doesn't feel like you are learning anything.
Not only are you working through the game with the games that teach you how to program and code them, but while Elliot and I have been working through it, we have had some ideas for original games that we could make ourselves that are different from the game we just learned to program. Our imaginations have been running wild with different possibilities, and while you are programing one game, you see all of the different objects or tools there are, and we are excited to figure out how they work, and what kind of games we could make up using those tools or objects.
Like I said, Game Builder Garage seems like a bare bones game, and doesn't look too interesting when you see the cover artwork, but its deep, and has a lot of great things to learn and do. I will post links for both Super Mario Maker 2 , and for Game Designer Garage, both for the Nintendo Switch, below. Honestly, Super Mario Maker 2 has millions and millions of user levels to play, and Game Maker Garage teaches you, and inspires you to make games that are 100 % You.
Anyway, I'm sorry it's been a couple of weeks since my last blog post. I have been busy doing things with Elliot, and have put aside writing blog posts for sleep, or doing things away from home with Elliot.
I hope you are all doing well. I would suggest keeping a mask on you, just incase. Elliot and I were signed up to volunteer for the Special Olympics of Utah Bowling Tournament that was supposed to happen today, but they canceled it because there are new strains of Covid going around, and even infecting people who have had their shots. Please be careful, and be kind. I promise to write another post soon. Take care!
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