Don't just play together , create together with this Gamemaker studio deal

Playing together is a great way to spend time with your kids, but creating something together, especially if it related to playtime can also create wonderful moments to look back to for a very long time.

When I grew up , one of our first computers in the house was a MSX computer. I still remember spending hours with my dad on the MSX computer typing in lines and lines of code.

Ah the good old times of loading from tape

 Some came from magazines, others from books we got at the library. It was always a lot of work , first the machine assembly language had to be typed in , and then the a bit easier to understand basic code.

This was our google

One small mistake, even one character, could throw the whole thing off, but once we were done we would have made a small character such as a pac-man clone or sometimes just even a square block and we could move it across the screen.  It was AMAZING!!!! Magic happened in front of our eyes. The payoff felt huge and it also meant some quality time together sharing an interest.

I never took that much to programming in the end, but I will always fondly remember those times we spend together.

Spelunky

These days it has become so much easier to create videogames together and one of the ways to get started us with the gamemaker software. This simple to understand program has a very clear visual approach to making a game where you start with what you see is what you get, drag and drop style creation. No coding is needed here.
 But once you mastered that it allows you  to expand and start messing in the code and create even more intricate mechanics. And it can create some wonderful games, the acclaimed games Spelunky and hyperlight drifter for instance were created in Gamemaker.

And now HumbleBundle has a deal on gamemaker software. This awesome deal includes the studio pro version as well as all the modules that allow you to export your game pretty much to any platform, html5, android, iphone, windows etc. And even though gamemaker itself is well affordable all by it self, these modules are normally pretty pricey. if you are quick you can still get the whole bundle and a bunch of playable games (for inspiration) for $15. So go ahead and click here to get your copy and take your kids on their adventure.

Have a wonderful creative weekend.

-Dad