Igor, This is a subject area that seems like it would be a good starter learning project and doable but really its not.
There are many problems that just are not suited to a young person at that age level of comprehension. Gaming graphics for example often requires understanding quaternion math, computer science, and hardware at a very low level (realtime processing where ms framerate processing counts).
Game design often also is multidisciplinary and requires knowledge of psychology, storytelling, music, and art.
Kids simply don't have the life experience, to put something together for this and have it turn out in a satisfying completed project.
Additionally, even when you are an expert, the experts don't play their own games most times. The vast majority of the fun and allure comes from the discovery of not knowing everything about the game and discovering it. This is why writing games for yourself is often doomed to failure.
Additionally, most games today have subtle manipulations and embedded addiction triggers. These aren't things they can just pick up and use. As an example of this, Call of Duty and Battlefield (FPS), have headshot audio triggers that associate through pavlovian conditioning headshots ingame with the dopamine hit sound cha-ching.
The ability to control addiction is in a part of the brain that doesn't usually develop fully until your 20s, and this stuff is in most modern games. There is a framework called the Octalysis Framework, it provides common methods to embed dark patterns in a way people don't perceive. It is based on some earlier work based in thought reform (torture), and later psychology experiments identifying key drivers to enable manipulation. This is extremely subtle stuff similar to what Pixar & Disney do in their movies (i.e. the handsome guy is always the villain, the preacher is always crazy...lot more).
Robert Cialdini wrote a book covering some of this precursor material. The book is called Influence, and it lays out all our natural perceptual blindspots, and how to exploit them. These are blindspots not even grown adults will notice most of the time without training.
I think you will be better served by starting them on something educationally constructive that is more suited for their age. If you are looking for something math related, Cosmic Calculator series has shortcuts that let you do math amazingly fast. Storytelling for writing authors may be good as well, or just focus on getting them to read for pleasure.
Descartes Rules of Method were particularly useful around that age as well as logic and reasoning (which public education will not teach them), since they are only just starting to be able to discern lies from truths, and that is a major developmental milestone.
Other activities might include Piano lessons, or art lessons.
The current gaming landscape is unhealthy, and can't be vetted by an 11-yo and even platforms designed to make this no-code easier, you have to worry about them suggesting and influencing in ways that will diminish them, or mislead, or creating interference and frustration, or something more directly harmful like TikTok and their recommendations to the Blackout Challenge (kids have literally died).
Some who don't have children might think this is overblown but there are no trusted platforms out there that will safeguard kids appropriately.
Google "Roblox kids scandal" and you'll see what I mean; and they've been recommended here in more than a few other comments.
Update: Sometimes I find it really surprising where others priorities are here on HN. You'd think protecting children would be paramount, but voting paints a very different picture, -3 for mentioning tiktok or the roblox scandal...
I suspect the voting is more based on the fact that you're essentially saying "your child should give up, this field is bad and there are no good spaces for kids" when that's both terrible advice and not at all true. Yes, there are exploitative spaces, but there are in fact good spaces too. And your whole thing about how "making games is less fun than playing them and playing them is actually a dark pattern that is evil" is extremely cynical and doesn't hold well if you know about more games than mobile ones or CoD.
If the post was about a kid wanting to write novels and you had said "writing is not as fun as reading, and you shouldn't read anyways because most books are scammy self-help books and conspiracy theories that exploit your brain," I think you would be similarly downvoted. Nothing to do with a Roblox scandal in that case either.
Any rational person reading what I actually wrote would disagree with just about everything you say here.
You try to be clever twisting what was actually written, but in the end this new version is something you've written. It is what you say, not what I said. While the words are similar, they have been subtly altered to change the meanings, making them your words, not mine, and most importantly these words you've written are false.
You've twisted the words just enough so any reader skimming lightly might be confused, and misled into a consistency trap of agreement. Very subtle and skilled which only increases the loss of credibility when it is found out.
Your motivation for this begs an important question about your character, and credibility as a whole is lost.
Good people don't do this, and there can be no mistake as to whether this was intentional given the level of attention and effort you invested coupled with the clear skill that can only come from practice.
Thank you. You thoroughly make my point about how no online places being safe, as this type of subtle deceptions and behavior is what children will have to interact with and they are at a stage of development that is inherently vulnerability lacking the tools to communicate or identify the faults.
People would only call what I've written cynical, in contexts of opinion when I was talking about opinion, but I used facts and references (not the same meaning), providing rational methods of support. You would imply this is an unbacked opinion as a nullification attempt, but this doesn't work on the rational, and rationality is one of the few things that separate humanity from the animal kingdom.
You should know that these tactics and techniques you use would at one point have gotten the outcome you desired, and it may fool some of the more gullible masses for now, but that number is shrinking. The knowledge is becoming common knowledge, and when it does people like you will have nothing left.
As with all deceptions, it lacks a core consistent truth, which can't fool people all the time. The more examples you provide, the more widespread knowledge of it spreads. What you hope to keep under wraps, will eventually be known by all and then you'll be left with nothing.
Based on your objective actions, I must conclude you are a malevolent blind person desperately lost and seeking to bring destruction in its various forms to those around you for some as of yet unknown motivation towards some selfish benefit .
There is only one cure for the malady you have, and eventually someone will give you that cure since you can no longer help yourself. All I can do is pray for a swift recovery.
There are many problems that just are not suited to a young person at that age level of comprehension. Gaming graphics for example often requires understanding quaternion math, computer science, and hardware at a very low level (realtime processing where ms framerate processing counts).
Game design often also is multidisciplinary and requires knowledge of psychology, storytelling, music, and art.
Kids simply don't have the life experience, to put something together for this and have it turn out in a satisfying completed project.
Additionally, even when you are an expert, the experts don't play their own games most times. The vast majority of the fun and allure comes from the discovery of not knowing everything about the game and discovering it. This is why writing games for yourself is often doomed to failure.
Additionally, most games today have subtle manipulations and embedded addiction triggers. These aren't things they can just pick up and use. As an example of this, Call of Duty and Battlefield (FPS), have headshot audio triggers that associate through pavlovian conditioning headshots ingame with the dopamine hit sound cha-ching.
The ability to control addiction is in a part of the brain that doesn't usually develop fully until your 20s, and this stuff is in most modern games. There is a framework called the Octalysis Framework, it provides common methods to embed dark patterns in a way people don't perceive. It is based on some earlier work based in thought reform (torture), and later psychology experiments identifying key drivers to enable manipulation. This is extremely subtle stuff similar to what Pixar & Disney do in their movies (i.e. the handsome guy is always the villain, the preacher is always crazy...lot more).
Robert Cialdini wrote a book covering some of this precursor material. The book is called Influence, and it lays out all our natural perceptual blindspots, and how to exploit them. These are blindspots not even grown adults will notice most of the time without training.
I think you will be better served by starting them on something educationally constructive that is more suited for their age. If you are looking for something math related, Cosmic Calculator series has shortcuts that let you do math amazingly fast. Storytelling for writing authors may be good as well, or just focus on getting them to read for pleasure.
Descartes Rules of Method were particularly useful around that age as well as logic and reasoning (which public education will not teach them), since they are only just starting to be able to discern lies from truths, and that is a major developmental milestone.
Other activities might include Piano lessons, or art lessons.
The current gaming landscape is unhealthy, and can't be vetted by an 11-yo and even platforms designed to make this no-code easier, you have to worry about them suggesting and influencing in ways that will diminish them, or mislead, or creating interference and frustration, or something more directly harmful like TikTok and their recommendations to the Blackout Challenge (kids have literally died).
Some who don't have children might think this is overblown but there are no trusted platforms out there that will safeguard kids appropriately.
Google "Roblox kids scandal" and you'll see what I mean; and they've been recommended here in more than a few other comments.
Update: Sometimes I find it really surprising where others priorities are here on HN. You'd think protecting children would be paramount, but voting paints a very different picture, -3 for mentioning tiktok or the roblox scandal...