I had something similar with my daughter while playing TWP. She was playing the intro, and after she put out the light and had to bring Boris to the sewer entrance, I warned her. “Be prepared, because after you reach the sewer, someone will hit you in the head and make you faint. Don’t be scared and remember it’s just a game”. She didn’t want to go at first but then she found the courage and, after he got hit, she had a nervous laugh about it to exorcise the tension. Now she loves that part.
So… I think it strongly depends on the child. My daughter seems to have no problems about “violence” (not that she ever saw realistic violence), but she’s easily startled if things happen all of a sudden. I know her and for this reason I know what to offer her and how to offer it.
But again, in the future there will be other influences (like in your case an older neighbor) and I can’t always protect her, so I always say, it’s better if she gets to know stuff from me than from others, even if it’s a bit too soon.
Yes you are right, Loom and Full Throttle should maybe be played later.
But I actually don’t think Sam&Max is that bad. Of course Max is a potential mass murdering lagomorph with crude manners and leaning towards unnecessary and excessive violence… but the game is very cartoonish and you don’t have to explain every innuendo.
The thing is that you never know what scene a (younger) kid can’t handle. It could be a totally harmless scene where the kid freaks out while the scenes you deemed problematic aren’t at all.
Also it could change which scenes are frightening and not when watching movies multiple times, that’s why it’s better to be present as a parent so you can talk about it with the kid in case this happens.
Speaking for myself. I grew up in an era where for a very short while children´s stuff was very dark. It was the era of Don Bluth and Ralph Bakshi animation and I watched stuff like The Secret Of Nihm, The Last Unicorn and also things like Time Bandits very very early. I didn´t have a problem with any of that. The scariest scenes fascinated me the most. Back then a little more was possible, I guess.
I can only think of one instance where I was watching TV alone and the Bionic Woman was on, then this happened…
Needless to say I figuratively peed my wee pants. But nobody could have guessed that it was this that would tip me off. Not even myself until I saw it. Very soon after I found it funny, but it was a bit of a shock at first.
@RonGilbert: From your point of view: Is it more difficult to develop games for children? Isn’t it more difficult to find an appropriate story and puzzles?
I remember him saying he founded HE to make such games specifically because children are much more forgiving and so he can try different things (e.g. without getting yelled at by gamers because he used the wrong font and similar stuff ).
Forgiving is the wrong word, in some was kids are less forgiving. If they don’t like something they have no problem telling you that. What is nice about kids if their pure enjoyment of something. They don’t care and tech, they just want to have fun.
That can be good and bad. You can’t bull shit them with fancy graphics, but on the other hand, you can’t bull shitted with fancy graphics.
It was easier only in that we didn’t have to create large complex game. Designing each puzzle was about the same. Writing was the same, art was the same, voicework is the same. There just wasn’t as much of it.
I was primarily thinking of children younger than 5. As for older children, I agree with you. Personally, I never had a real issue with dark movies. And I was typically fascinated by dark scenes, too.
But, I remember that I watched the old Disney movies very early. I was even too young too understand every dialog and every details of the story. I can’t remember if some scenes disturbed me too much, but when I look retrospectively at it, I can’t imagine that such a young kid could evaluate such movies objectively. Back then, my parents had more fun with such movies than I had. It’s absolutely okay if a child believes in magic. But what’s the use of letting a 3 year old watch a movie about an evil witch who poisons an innocent girl called Snow White, because she is more beautiful?
Don’t get me wrong. I like fairy tales. But, the audience needs to understand them appropriately.
Well, if the kid knows that the witch is not realistic and that there is no reason to be afraid of witches in reality (or to get nightmares), it’s okay.
Furthermore, I admit that there are movies (such as early 007 movies) that are rather funny than cruel nowadays.
By the way, I remember that my mother sometimes imputed to me that I was not old enough for a movie or a game, even though I actually was. An education like that is not helpful either.
I started playing Freddi Fish and enjoyed it. Obviously it was very basic and simple, but I could clearly see how it could appeal to me if I were a small child. My wife started testing it as well to see if it could be appropriate for our granddaughter and she felt the same way: it’s a very good game, definitely aimed at children, but an adult can enjoy it if they can let him- or herself go and play like a child would.
Veering slightly off topic but I played Putt Putt with my 5 year old for about an hour the other day.
Overall he loved it tons. In fact, his favorite color is green so the first thing he did when he got money was got a green paint job for his car, the list of things to do be damned.
We played it on the iPad, here are some bits of feedback I feel could help:
The controls when you are picking vegetables are painful and unforgiving, you must click exactly on a straight line, you must reach exactly near the fruit/veg. When navigating back you often open the start menu and need to exit it cause bottom left of screen is open start menu.
The drawer of “stuff Putt Putt has” is a bit hard for someone with tiny fingers to use, he struggled with the small items.
The nail game seems endless, I wish it had some idea of “progress” beyond you are on level X. When are you done? What is the prize?
Will report back on the various games here, thanks heaps for making them.
I feel Humongous Games could fill a GIANT void on the iPad scene for 4-8 year old games. Sadly the iPad store is jam packed with Gem CENTRAL games that train kids to beg parents for gems, which is terrible.
The iPad adaptation of Putt Putt does need a bit of work though imo.
I don’t think Thimbleweed Park is appropriate for kids.
But my 10-year-old was very interested in finding out what I was spending much time playing, so I showed him the trailer… and the ending, where Ray gets knocked out in the alley, freaked him out and gave him nightmares. Which confirmed my opinion.
He did watch me enough to start saying, “what the beep?”
but then she found the courage and, after he got hit, she had a nervous laugh about it to exorcise the tension. Now she loves that part.
).
