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- write a branching narrative using something like Twine - try making some 2d art- pixel art is very approachable. This YouTube channel is an amazing resource - try making some 3d art. Blender is where she'll want to end up, but it's pretty daunting at first. She might want to start out with something simpler, like TinkerCAD - write all of the code herself for a simple 2d game. Simple is key- think Pong, not Skyrim. I'm partial to Javascript + HTML5 canvas personally, but there are lots of options here. The key thing that I recommend is something w/out any editor- just code. Yes, that makes some things more difficult, but the point here is to do the simplest possible thing to get to know code, without getting caught up in the intricacies of an engine. This tutorial on MDN looks like a great place to start. - and about those engines... she should do at least a tutorial or two in a couple of engines to get a feel for working in them. There are TONS of them out there, but I think there are really three that are especially worth knowing right now: Unreal, Unity, and Godot. I won't get into the trade-offs or details, other than to say that any of those three are totally great choices. She should see what she thinks of them. - audio: I don't know as much about this area, but she should try making some music and/or sound effects. That could be anything from just recording sounds with her phone and trimming them / cleaning them up with Audacity to getting into actual music production. She doesn't even have to play an instrument- there are plenty of tools out there for building up stuff from samples (though that's not my area, so I don't know where to start).
- write a branching narrative using something like Twine - try making some 2d art- pixel art is very approachable. This YouTube channel is an amazing resource - try making some 3d art. Blender is where she'll want to end up, but it's pretty daunting at first. She might want to start out with something simpler, like TinkerCAD - write all of the code herself for a simple 2d game. Simple is key- think Pong, not Skyrim. I'm partial to Javascript + HTML5 canvas personally, but there are lots of options here. The key thing that I recommend is something w/out any editor- just code. Yes, that makes some things more difficult, but the point here is to do the simplest possible thing to get to know code, without getting caught up in the intricacies of an engine. This tutorial on MDN looks like a great place to start. - and about those engines... she should do at least a tutorial or two in a couple of engines to get a feel for working in them. There are TONS of them out there, but I think there are really three that are especially worth knowing right now: Unreal, Unity, and Godot. I won't get into the trade-offs or details, other than to say that any of those three are totally great choices. She should see what she thinks of them. - audio: I don't know as much about this area, but she should try making some music and/or sound effects. That could be anything from just recording sounds with her phone and trimming them / cleaning them up with Audacity to getting into actual music production. She doesn't even have to play an instrument- there are plenty of tools out there for building up stuff from samples (though that's not my area, so I don't know where to start).
- write a branching narrative using something like Twine - try making some 2d art- pixel art is very approachable. This YouTube channel is an amazing resource - try making some 3d art. Blender is where she'll want to end up, but it's pretty daunting at first. She might want to start out with something simpler, like TinkerCAD - write all of the code herself for a simple 2d game. Simple is key- think Pong, not Skyrim. I'm partial to Javascript + HTML5 canvas personally, but there are lots of options here. The key thing that I recommend is something w/out any editor- just code. Yes, that makes some things more difficult, but the point here is to do the simplest possible thing to get to know code, without getting caught up in the intricacies of an engine. This tutorial on MDN looks like a great place to start. - and about those engines... she should do at least a tutorial or two in a couple of engines to get a feel for working in them. There are TONS of them out there, but I think there are really three that are especially worth knowing right now: Unreal, Unity, and Godot. I won't get into the trade-offs or details, other than to say that any of those three are totally great choices. She should see what she thinks of them. - audio: I don't know as much about this area, but she should try making some music and/or sound effects. That could be anything from just recording sounds with her phone and trimming them / cleaning them up with Audacity to getting into actual music production. She doesn't even have to play an instrument- there are plenty of tools out there for building up stuff from samples (though that's not my area, so I don't know where to start).
For instance, check this http://inform7.com/ a game-engine of sorts for interactive fiction.
If she wants to try making something, I encourage her to check out Scratch. It's primarily targeted at young kids, but ignore that part - it's a great tool for anyone (regardless of age) to create interactive media with no prior programming experience. The way logic works in Scratch is intuitive, and doesn't require you to know how to write complex code.