How to make a game with your kids

Let them invent it and you type it: a hero they choose, a world they draw in words, and a game they can play a few minutes later. Small ideas, one change at a time, and a lot of "now make it so that...".

Children are excellent game designers: they know exactly what they want the dragon to do. Go Bananas turns a description into a playable browser game in a few minutes, so a child can see their idea become a game they can play and change. You hold the account (Go Bananas accounts are for people 13 and over), and they hold the ideas.

Ask them three questions

1. Who is the hero? A cat, a robot, a dinosaur, their little brother as a superhero.
2. What do they want? Collect stars, reach the castle, escape the volcano, feed the fish.
3. What's in the way? Bees, lava, a grumpy crab, a timer.

Their answers are the game. Write them down in their words.

Turn it into a description

Add how it's played and how it looks, and keep it small. For example:

A game where a cat named Pixel jumps between clouds to collect stars, and avoids the angry bees. Arrow keys or tapping the sides of the screen to move, space or a tap to jump. Three lives; after 20 stars Pixel reaches the moon and wins. Bright cartoon colors, cheerful sounds.

Read it to them before you send it: "Is that your game?" Then make it together. It takes a few minutes, a good time to draw the cat on paper.

The best part: changing it

Once it runs, let them ask for changes, one at a time, in their words: "make the bees slower", "give Pixel a jetpack", "make the stars rainbow", "add a baby cat that follows Pixel". Each change takes a minute or two, and seeing their idea appear is the point. If a change goes wrong, the editor's Version History brings back an earlier version.

Sharing it with family

To send the game to grandparents or friends, publish it and share the link; they play in their browser, with no account. Publishing makes a game public: anyone with the link can play it, and it can appear in the games list. Keep children's full names, photos, school and anything personal out of it: "Pixel the cat" is perfect, "Emma Smith from Oak Street" isn't.

Keep going

Ideas small enough for a first game are on the game ideas page, and game design basics explains why small games work better. Make a second game next weekend: the cat can go to space.