The 3D Gamemaker

I have a 11 year old step-son which really wants to get into game making.
Here's the deal though, he's got ADHD and doesn't have the concentration required for regular programming, so I figured something like 'The 3D Gamemaker' would be a good starting point for him.

Anyone have any experiences with this program?

Tried it when it was just gamemaker (no 3d) and it seemed fairly straightforward.

years ago i tried the darkbasic one (if it wasnt 3dgamemaker) and although it was targeted at teenagers it was more apealing to the younger market which was the children of the guy who loaned me the disc

they didnt care that the level were layed out like wolfenstien and were small

im guessing their latest version isnt so limiting but still quick to turnaround a 'game' of sorts

I would still start with 2D instead of jumping directly into 3D.

Try Klick & Play. Its free now:

http://www.mindtools.tased.edu.au/knp/intro.htm

Thanks for the input guys ;)

@taumel: I would too, but kids nowadays are all about the 3D ;)
@boomboom: Will check it out, thanks!
@Ginger Tea: I tried showing him Blitz3D, but he wasn't at all interested in coding, just instant gratification, so maybe its just what he needs ;)

http://www.fpscreator.com/

I wouldn't bother with the 3D Game Maker - its way too old, rather primative, and not really support ed any more - plus I've never got it working in XP.

FPSC Creater may be better although build times can take a while, so may not be suitable either.

ADHD + programming = Vampire + garlic farmer.

Sometimes you just have to say "son, this ain't for you. Find something else to be interested in".

If it were that easy maybe we'd all be doing that instead ...

Not at all helpful but very true.

I agree with vinylpusher - find something more instantaneously gratifying - or write something he can play with that you can add to yourself as time goes by.

IPete2.

Game Maker 7 most likely is the simpler choice.
Its event based and has a visual programming language, so even with short concentration phases he is able to accomplish things.

3D Game Maker is one of the standard rubish TGC "create game button" products. He would need to have a serious amount of concentration to not go wacky.

EDITED: Removed the 200 in front of the 7 :$

What's Game Maker 2007? Do you mean the tool Mark Overmars developed which is now sold under YoYo Games or something? I've heard nothing but good things about that.

@vinylpusher - lol, yeah I know, but as I have ADHD myself, I know that its possible, it just requires a ton of concentration and willpower ;)

Im going to check out the Game Maker 2007, thanks ;)

BTW, anyone know if RealmCrafter is any good? He loves WoW and dreams about making his own MMO (doesn't all kids? :P )

I think a lot of game developers/programmers suffer from ADHD with the amount of unfinished software kicking about.

Game Maker 7.0 can do 3D. The last version I played with was 5.0. You can make simple games with ease, but it can get complicated to use if you try and do somthing more advanced.

I know a guy who has ADHD and programs more then I do.
Gets stuff done too...

I think he started in 5th grade with something called stagecast creator.
Google it, see what you get.

I have 3D game maker, got it a while back. It is really basic, but not so fun. I played it a few times, and wasnt too happy with it. More so because of how little you can customize. You choose how many enemies there are, and then they are randomly placed in the premade map.

I would recommend FPS Creator, i thought that was a rather easy program. Easy to learn. Pretty basic drag and drop, while there is much more options and customizeablitlity. Only a few more things to learn.

Of course if he is young, 3D Game Maker could work better for him.

Thanks for all your suggestions ;)

I think you should get The Game maker`s apprentice book as it teach you how to make games (there are 9 different game in the book and it also come with CD with Gamemaker 7 Lite!)

It is very good book.

I think ADHD is nothing else than multithreading. Normal men can do only 1 task at a time, while women can do 2. ADHD tries to fix that bug, and slice the tasks, performing a kind of multitasking what we have seen from Windows. If you give the ADHD person only 1 task to do, it will act like any normal man, since it slices the only one and same task.

Also autistic people are way better than normal people, they can do billions of floating point operations per second, where a normal man would need years. They are almost as good as computers.

@Lumooja: I think you've been programming for too long, time to get some fresh air ;)

ADHD for me is the inability to focus on even 1 task over a normal period of time. Memory is also shoddy, making it hard to remember things I did last week or even two days before. Names is very hard to remember.
I can start reading a book, and when I finish a page I don't know what I've been reading. My mind was drifting away while my eyes was scanning the lines. I try to read it again, but it happens over and over despite me being aware of it.
Then there's periods of hyperfocus. I've written whole games in a matter of days and then the next week struggle with simple OOP.

Btw, I believe the "men can do 1 thing, woman 2" is a myth until I see some real scientific proof ;) In my experience, its just something women have latched on to as a way of holding on to some kind of superiority in this male dominated society.

That's true, I can also hardly remember the server names, but I remember their IP numbers anytime! Which is actually a good thing, since then I'm not dependant on some randomly working DNS servervs. I can't also read any kind of books if they don't have comic pictures. But I can watch DVD's for hours and hours.

Multimedia Fusion 2 is great for building quick 2d games such as platformers and shooters. I taught this software at a camp last summer. Fun stuff.

on the multi taskiing in 97 i could vouch for doing these things at once

walk
talk
chew bubble gum (muffled my words some what)
and dissasemble a laptop enough to get the HDD out

given the one man one thing analogy having to do just the HDD without bubble gum and talking ???

"the hard drive isnt secure"
spit splodge smear "it is now"
"eww"
ok that never happend ;)

i also watched a tv show on autism
one guy was great at working out the day of any given date (even factoring in the gregorian/julian crossover)
but was absolutly useless at doing anything else for himself

my mum worked with people of varying levels of mental/physical and learning disabilities and she had to write procedial(?) lists for making a cup of tea
things we do without thinking had to be layed out task by task

even check water level had to have
go to kitchen
go to kettle
lift up kettle lid
look in kettle
is there any water
is it enough

things we do but we dont notice the list going on in the background as much as we dont notice the very act of breathing

The day/date thing can be learned in an afternoon and perfected the morning after.

Personally, I've got a calendar function on my phone which suffices.

Hi, ash,

For ADHD, I think let him learning Yoga or Kung-Fu to sharpen his spirits is a chioce, that may help him being more concentrate on things.

ADHD can be cured. They once said i had it, they even put me on some drug to keep me quite. i refused to beleive it and stopped taking medicine. With the help of Jesus, and wheres the ADHD now? In hell. Anything is possible really...

As for 3D Gamemaker, its really worth nothing except to play with. For real tools its better to use a programming language. Blitz3D aint so hard, and its good for him to for once learn to focus. Saying "can't" only keeps m in boundage and won't change a thing in his situation. Dont accept it, just break the ADHD off him in Jesus name.

So you went from having ADHD to having psychotic delusions instead :)

Ooops... (here we go)

I actually also thought that Jesus would be some religious person until recently, but then I found out that he is just bullshit. You can see the whole truth in this movie: http://zeitgeistmovie.com/
Religion is not a disease alone (genetically caused overdose of dopamine in the brain), but it's mostly based on disinformation and lies in order to make money.

Jesus isn't he that fellow that said we should be all nice to each other. Did him a lot of good didn't it got nailed too two bits of wood and hung out to dry.

whoops, that went offtopic. but hey, i do not encourige relegion, im just expressing what changed my life and have seen Him change the lifes of others for the good. its a bit rude and offending to see how i get insulted streight afterward. look, if Crippled walk, cancers being removed, blind see, etc.. you guys should get outdoor a bit more man. This stuff is real, and sometimes medicly confirmed causing even an atheist to give up on his ideas. You can't deny it if a bone grows back for example. anyway, im not here to defend myself or Jesus. its just ver primitive to say Hes a fake based one some lose theories from the internet. the real thing is outdoor in the poor countries but even now arising in europe and canada. whats amazing is that the news reports none of it, they rather focus on the bad stuff. lets say, if one is preaching the gospel without power, i dont blaim you for doubting it. my hopes are that you will find thos few who preach and demonstrate the gospel, but that takes a live of devotion to God, and man rather go for their own glory and can therefor not access these realms, for it is Jesus that heals, not man. thats why we see relegion. we have seen mainly if not soly the works of man. but thats changing. also, Jesus is love, so if one preaches jesus but doesn't make true what he preaches, and there is no visable power or he has no love, youve got my concern.

#1 take him out of the straight jacket
he can use the mouse and keyboard more effectivly

#2 never introduce family to bondage unless its your other half

"mother this is the marquis desade"
"how do you do"
"what dont i do more like"

I don't think anyone here has a problem with anyone else here who may believe in God.

I also think that anyone who does have something negative to say should really think about just not posting at all. It's not constructive.

I don't believe in God or Jesus. I do believe in the power of belief. If it helps some people, like it's helped Goldstar, then it can't be a bad thing. I might not agree with his view, but I do appreciate it.

Only on bb.com can a thread about 3D Gamemaker end up discussing God...

So it's ok for some people to express their beliefs but not others? Gods and religions are a load of balony. They're the refuge of the ignorant. They are the opiate of the masses. They comfort but they do not enlighten. They are all based on superstitious nonsense, and should be taken no more seriously, or treated with any more respect, than a belief in wizards and fairies. They have caused more suffering, torture, death and intolerance than any other delusion known to man. For all these reasons, and many orthers, I'm an atheist - and I'm proud of it.

And I have as much right to express my belief as someone who champions their pro-religious beliefs. My beliefs may seem offensive and distasteful to some, but I find pro-religious sentiments equally offensive and distasteful.

Stop provoking each other! I have strong opinions about the religion subject too, but this is not the right forum for it.

Ummm.. About the actual subject here, I don't think it's right to tell someone that 'this is not your thing, don't even try'. Especially in parent-kid setting. It's better to let a kid try and fail than not to try at all.

Since the original poster's son wants to get into game development, and taking into account the child's ADHD, perhaps the child should be encouraged to take a different route into it? I mean, programming isn't the only avenue - I suspect that art might be a more rewarding and stimulating area for the child to focus on.

Doing art, appreciating art and wondering about techniques is certainly a venue i'd introduce a person with ADHD to.
But the short attention span demands different subjects to focus on so in my opinion having a couple of different (scientific) fields of interest is paramount to keep the mind at ease and lead a comfortable life. Certainly it is unlikely any of these fields will be mastered but eventually a professional level can be reached.

Ashmantle, i think you're doing good by offering your son interesting fields of study. Game programming with a game maker might be a good start. Me, i was happily amazed when i had my first basic loop print out hello world over and over ;) And my curiosity evolved from there.

Wish you all the best.

I thought I might have overstepped the mark by saying "consider not posting". You're entirely right.

I guess what I should have said was "don't attack someone on a personal level if you don't agree with their view". I think it's acceptable to say "I don't agree with you because [bah blah logical argument]" but not "your view is stupid".

Belief in a god is not necessarily a personality defect. I used to think it was, and sometimes it is (whether it be cause or effect, I wouldn't know), but not always.