Tektoma is Fun, but Slightly Advanced

Posted by Lorren on March 9, 2010

We were given the opportunity to review the video game making tutorials at Tektoma.com. Tektoma is a company that helps kids ages 7 to 17 make their own video games. In return, we were asked to write a review.

Tektoma uses a program called GameMaker to make it easier to create video games. Younger children, like my daughter, may need help downloading and installing the program, and adding the resource files to the desktop.

My daughter was very excited to give Tektoma a try. She likes to play video games (what seven-year-old doesn’t) and had grand ideas of creating the next Super Mario Brothers. For us, reality was a little different.

The program is good, and as an adult, it is easy to follow along. Tektoma has videos that you follow along on your computer. You open the same files, see (almost) the same things on your screen, and create the same video game features. In the process your child is learning how to create video games. There are basic videos, like learning how to make a race car game or an arcade game, as well as more advanced games.

My daughter had a little trouble with these tutorials. She’s on the younger range of the kids these videos are made for, and that might be why she was having some difficulty. The video tutor used the Pro version of GameMaker, while we had the free version. There were slight variations between what was on the video, and what was on our screen, and I think that it threw her off. I tried to help her, but she was already frustrated.

I think that in a year or two, my daughter would be able to follow along a little bit better, and she would enjoy these tutorials a little bit more. If she expresses an interest in computer programming when she gets older (particularly game making), we will probably take another look at it.

You can try them out for 14 days for free. This would give you enough time to see if these tutorials are at the right level for your child.