DS8 has been playing Minecraft on the PC since around age 3. He still likes it but he is looking for other games. I would imagine that after 5 years the same game would get old (or at least I hope so!). One gave that he has been playing a lot for the last 9 months, is Settlers: Rise of an Empire.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Settlers-Rise-Empire-PC/dp/B000Q56VHK When he first started playing this he would plop buildings down randomly, his settlers were naked/starving half the time, etc. But he has become an expert and succeeded in all 15 campaigns on his own. I like how the game improves executive functioning ability--planning, organizing, focus, strategy, etc. I just ordered a copy of Stronghold/Crusader for him which looks similar. He loves history. Since we haven't tried it I can't recommend it but it looks interesting.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SKDIKE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00Please post game suggestions for DS or just in general for other people to benefit.
I know there is another game thread, but this one is specific to computer games for kids that like Minecraft type games.
Basically you are exploring a map, and you discover other villages. Some of them are "enemy" and others are friendly (or become friendly if you cooperate with their requests). You can then buy certain resources from them. It does not teach complex economic principles by any means. The main thing about the game is that you have to produce enough food by building farms, hunting cabins, fishing shacks, etc. And then you need to produce clothing from the hides that are produced. You also end up building other structures like Taverns, Baths, Broom Makers, etc. as the game progresses and your settlement develops. DS would forget about all of this because he was so eager to run around the map and attack bandits or enemies with his armies. Then his settlers would go on strike. He would also forget to build a wall around his city. After the first few campaigns it can get repetitive, but DS was rather obsessed. I almost always see the game at Half Price Books for $5, it was well worth the money.
You can play against the computer, or you can set up a LAN game. We have played it where it was all 4 of us with our own cities on the same map, helping or attacking each other.
My ds12 still plays minecraft on his and other servers with his friends. He did not start at 3 though. He also likes Terraria and can get pretty involved in that. He also likes Kerbal Space Program. I think there is a pretty good learning curve to start but I am sure he will catch on quickly. You might even like Kerbal if you give it a shot.
StrongHold looks pretty good. The price is right too, it is $19.99 on steam.
Based on the interest in Settlers, I'd strongly recommend The Total War series. It checks all of the boxes:
- History
- Economy and resource management
- Negotiation
- Strategy
- ATTACK!
There are different versions of the game reflecting different historical periods. The battle simulation engine is AWESOME, and the units and tactics are well representative of the respective time periods and individual national characters. All of the units move simultaneously, and the user can only pause or accelerate the passage of time, so battles are quite demanding on executive function.
A favorite for me is Empire: Total War, which reflects the 1700s across three theaters (Americas, Europe/North Africa/Near East, India), and includes a campaign that simulates the American Revolution. This title has been around for a few years now, and can be found on the cheap.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll definitely check them out. I got a cheap copy of Age of Empires collector's edition today. Has anyone tried that? It says 12+ so I'm assuming it's not too complex.
We went through a Terraria phase a year or two ago. Both kids were really into it for a while and then shifted back to Minecraft.
What type of platforms for games do you want suggestions for?
DS went through a huge phase of loving Zelda (RPG Fantasy game) when he was a preteen. He started with the Wii version, and we ended up buying a used Playstation so he could play the older games. My biggest problem with this game is it's not set up to quit on a at any time, you need to move to a save location or you loose everything you have done recently.
The Settlers game sounds at least somewhat similar to Civilization, which I've always loved. I believe it's up to Civ V now, but I have always been partial to Civ II, myself. There are also other versions that branch out, like historical ones, and a new space one, that are not numbered. You can get all the old ones on Steam, as well as other places.
We have a Wii and a couple tablets but he seems to prefer the PC for whatever reason. DD has stolen my ipad. One game for the Wii that DS really loved a few years ago was "Dawn of Discovery"...I think it is Anno 1404 for the PC. You are also building cities. I tried Civilization (albeit not very hard) and couldn't figure out what was going on, although it's quite possible DS would figure it out if I left him to his own devices.
I think we have Zelda for the Wii and there wasn't much interest from either kid. They played it for a couple days.
Beware of Sid Meier's games like Civilisation - they are dangerously addictive.
My fav historically based PC games are Civ II and Pharaoh (and the other games in the series by Impressions covering Rome, Asia, and Greece). For fantasy stuff I like the Age of Wonders series as well as Knights and Merchants, Lords of the Realm 2, Banished, Master of Magic, and Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Other great games that are fun and require thought include Roller Coaster Tycoon games and Tropico (they get progressively easier, like most games, so for a kid I'd start with Tropico 3 or 4). Those games are all strategy/building type games. Most have combat, Banished, Tropico, and Roller Coaster Tycoon do not. I get my digital games on GOG.com. Everything there is DRM free and goes on sale often.
DS 9 just started playing space engineers and really loves it. It's kinda like minecraft, but for space and with better graphics. I have also heard great things about kerbal space program.
Another game he likes is FTL (faster than light). It's in the space genre too, but is a strategy game.
Panzer, thanks for the list. That gives me more to look at. He also went through a Roller Coaster Tycoon phase.
I'm going to look at this Kerbal Space thing and space engineers once DS exhausts the other two games I just bought. I loaded Age of Empires for him today. Age of Empires I looks like some old Atari game but he is strangely fascinated by it. Age of Empires II looks more along the lines of Settlers with better graphics than Age of Empires I, and it makes more sense.
blackcat, if he likes designing roller coasters, has he tried making actual coasters (someone might have to help a bit with the cutting and taping):
http://paperrollercoasters.com/The engineering program in our high school does projects with this every year, to fantastic effect.
That looks very neat, aeh. DS tends to balk at anything requiring motor skills but I bet DD would love that.
I had one of the Age of Empires titles (II, I think). It's not terribly complicated. It's basically the original Warcraft game (not the MMORPG) in different packaging/context: gather resources -> build buildings -> generate fighters -> fight, all on a restricted-size game map that plunges you into conflict quickly. The only issue it would have for a younger kid is that you have to have a plan for getting your resources and basic defenses up and running quickly, as the AI likes to try an early swarm attack that's very successful against novice players.
In a similar vein, if he likes Age of Empires, I'd give the Command and Conquer titles a shot. Same sort of game in a modern warfare context, but it stands apart because of some pretty good story-telling, and a wide variety of challenging battle scenarios wrapped around those.
He's currently playing Age of Empires I after choosing it over Age of Empires II (this left me scratching my head--he did the tutorial on the second version and it was going well, but the first had no tutorial and neither one of us could figure out what he needed to do). From the little I saw, he was indeed being swarmed, by people "walking" with their clubs and beating him over the head (luckily this is not gory--the graphics are so bad you can barely tell they are people). We got a good laugh about how the people walk no matter what situation they are in. If they are attacked they still casually stroll around. Anyway, he said that he finally figured out how to build a farm, which was the goal of that level. I like how these games make him persist and figure this out, whereas for most things that are difficult or confusing, he gives up easily.
"Ow! Quit it. Ow! Quit it."
If I recall correctly (it's been years since I played it), in AoE2, an alarm rings out when you're under attack, and most of your workers head for shelter in a building.
On a completely different note... parents have some good reasons to NOT let their children play Grand Theft Auto, but there's an old Simpsons-themed equivalent that I've shown to a lot of kids, and they've all LOVED it: The Simpsons Hit and Run.
It's an older game and I've found it performs badly on multi-core machines unless you set processor affinity for it to a single processor, which can be a pain, but otherwise it works great. It's infused with Simpsons-style humor, so if that fits your family values, it's a lot of fun.
Civilization V is a favorite around here and you can buy all sorts of extra downloads to improve the experience.
A game my DS10 loves was Waking Mars - it's interesting to science kids (and absolutely beautiful). My son loves biology and alien life so it was a good fit for him - not sure if your son would like it or not but it's neat
He also loves clash of clans.
Thanks again everyone. His uncle has pretty much every game imaginable so I asked him to show DS Kerbal Space Program and Space Engineers (of course he had both). DS played Kerbal Space Program a lot and then Space Engineers a little (then we ran out of time). I asked which one he likes better and he said he likes both a lot. So I will watch for sales. Also we got the Stronghold collection in the mail. He has been playing Stronghold 2 a lot.
Dh said he actually has Civ V but thought that DS was too young so never mentioned it.