Star Wars Game Creator

Windows, Mac OSX, Internet Site

Teaches: creativity, spatial relations, temporal relations

CTR Rating: 92%

CTR Review

Great for introducing a younger child, as young as five, to the very basics of game design, Star Wars Game Creator, found at http://starwarsgamecreator.cartoonnetwork.com, is the second browser-based game creator from Cartoon Network. It is free (ad supported), and provides a drag-and-drop game design experience. You start by selecting a game template and background, and then drag game elements into place. To make a maze, you can drop walls and barriers into place. You can sprinkle your maze with enemies (to jump over) or things to collect. Once your environment is set up, you can click on "play" to start a timer. To move, you use the arrow keys. There's a bit of debugging involved in making a game work, and it is easy to go back and edit your design, which increases the educational value of the experience. To save your work, you have to register. You can also play and rate other children's games, and high scores are saved on a leader board, so you can keep track of who played your game. As children play, they are introduced to a variety of circulating ads that introduce upcoming episodes of Cartoon Network programming. Finished games can be saved, shared, or emailed to others. This isn't the most sophisticated programming experience by any stretch, but it is easy to use, and introduces the basics of game design. See also the Ben 10 Game Creator.