Dad, Can you make a video game?
My four year old son and I have a Saturday morning ritual where the two of us go our for a “special” breakfast at a local restaurant. While we are waiting for our food, Owen always draws a very exciting battle scene on the back of the paper placemat using the crayons provided by our server. This week’s battle scene was that of an army battle that involved a very large spaceship and a tank and some helicopters. Once he was done drawing, he asked “Dad, can we turn this into a video game?”. I answered of course I could!
So we went home and pulled out an old scanner, scanned his drawing, and went to work in Flash! The result, is a fun little game that I had fun making (and relearning a bit of trigonometry) and Owen had fun playing.
The game is aptly titled “Army Battle“. To play the game, you try to blast the helicoters with a bullet from your tank. To move the tank use the up and down arrows. To rotate the tank, use the left and right arrows. To aim the turret, move your mouse pointer around the screen. To fire the cannon, click the left mouse button!
Dude! That is the best game EVER! And your son surely thinks that you are the BEST DAD EVER!
:)
When I read the post I didn’t expect what I saw… very, very nice indeep. :) Love it!
Wow, that’s impressive work for a Saturday morning/afternoon.
Just watch out when the other kids on the street start turning up on your front door with their place-mat scribbles and game requests :)
[...] This is not about sophisticated flash games with use of physics and 3D, this is more about building a very special game. Read more here. [...]
Wow, you get points for being a cool dad :)
Very cool game.
man you and your son are the coolest! i love it!!and also my wife. great
I can’t blow up the top-left-most ‘copter. :(
Nice game btw!
wot can i say? this is game of the year! lol
Great game. And your son is an excellent artist for his age.
Tre Impressive.
[...] I thought this was so sweet and cool. [...]
SO COOL ! ps can kill the chopper in the top left connor BUT GREAT AND GREAT DRAWING !!!
cant kill it *
Definitely the best game ever! I will write a post on my Chinese blog titled: What a real game is like!
lol~~~
to michael, you just move the tank using arrow keys.
一个简单有趣的小游戏…
今天玩到一个非常有趣的FLASH小游戏，简单可爱。起因是作者四岁的儿子画了一幅坦克大战图，然后问自己的爸爸：“你能把这个做成电视游戏吗？”爸爸欣然同意，于是用了星期六一个下午…
[...] det her: Dad, Can you make a video game? Tags: inspiration, spil Del:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share [...]
That’s great, I bet your son was so pleased!
It’s amazing! You spend really good time with your son and you’re great dad.
hmm….. the last helicopter (the one on the left top corner) seems ..invincible? or.. is that a mistake? my son (3.5 old) & I played 3 times so far adn ..that drives me CRAZY! :-p also ..if u could send me the flahs file, i could possibily add some sound..?? :-p (my sons’ request lol)
but.. well we LOVED it.. good job!
nice game but i can’t get the last copter
Wow, that is something. You are really talented, man. I mean, it’s so simple but much too fascinating in a kiddish kind of way.
I wish I had the parallel skills of Flash as you do.
I was watching the lab with leo and i love the idea of making your own game
but when i try to go to the zip file download your site wont pull it up could you please try to trobleshoot it for me Thank You!
Brandon, you can get the files at:
http://www.digitalmediaminute.com/howto/crayonbattle/
[...] Being a father…This is probably the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time. In fact, It just shows you that with a little creativity and a little bit of Flash knowledge you can create something unique and fantastic. I found this post on “digitalmediaminute.com“. Jim Rutherfords 4 year old son asked him if he could turn his drawings into a video game. Jim said yes. Talk about the coolest dad. you check out the post at the the following link [...]
[...] Being a father…This is probably the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time. In fact, It just shows you that with a little creativity and a little bit of Flash knowledge you can create something unique and fantastic. I found this post on “digitalmediaminute.com“. Jim Rutherfords 4 year old son asked him if he could turn his drawings into a video game. Jim said yes. Talk about the coolest dad. you check out the post at the the following link [...]
I cant kill the last one
thank you jim for the website http://www.digitalmediaminute.com/howto/crayonbattle/
:)
il soon finish bye
oh well how do play it
how did you make it? Its awesome!
dude that is some cool game you made i play it alot but when you destroy all o em how yougt last 1.any way kid your you gotta think your dad izz de best :D only 4your a good drawer lol! :) plzz tell us your secret lolz (’.')
Hi. I was doing a search on “post games you made” and saw your sweet game for your boy. I wanted to let you know that my husband has recently launched, “Mockingbird” a game-making game. It is basically a game making app that anyone can use to make a Flash game or just change someone else’s. it is just launched. My 6 and 9 years old boys have been having a blast with it. Thought you or your readers might be interested.
http://playmockingbird.com
Thanks!