Learning to Create Code with Bryce!

Meet Bryce, our eight-year-old Featured Maker from South Carolina! He loves to code on Tynker and play soccer, especially defense! Bryce has aspirations of being a game developer when he grows up, which is a great follow-up to learning how to code. 

Bryce’s favorite class in school is his computer class because he gets to code – his mom, Lori, is the teacher! When we sat down with him, he enlightened us on why he loves to code and how it has impacted his life.

How did you get introduced to Tynker and how long have you been coding? I was playing Minecraft and there was something I didn’t like about it. I tried to find a game that you were able to code that I actually understand how they made it and what mistakes they made, and so I looked on the app store and I finally found Tynker. Trying to figure out how to mod Minecraft. Coding for about 4 months!

How did you learn how to use Tynker when you were first starting out? When I first started Tynker, I looked into it and I found a new project and I clicked on it and I saw a bunch of code blocks and I didn’t know what they were. So I looked at the published and I found out that there were a bunch of people that made a bunch of games and I didn’t really understand it but I understood some of the blocks. There was a gamekit that I found that I used. I found a lot of them on my own, but I found the courses after I already figured it out on my own.

How have your coding skills improved since you started using Tynker? Simple, a lot! The broadcast and receive part, I didn’t understand that you could do other things by the other actor doing the broadcast thing.

How did you feel when you found out your project had been featured? I didn’t know it! I just came screaming down the hall!

What is your favorite project you’ve made so far? It’d probably be the Battle Game 1, the first one I made. The first one I made got a lot of views and fairly good things to it. The second one didn’t do well, because they’ve already seen the first one! I just added more things to it, I got some stuff, but I’m happy!

“Battle Game”

“Battle Game 2”

Where did you get the idea for your project? Well, I got the idea from a game called Lineage 2: Revolution. There was one part of it where you were able to go and destroy monsters and you gain experience for the next level. And I thought, well, this game might be a good one to add to Tynker, this might actually do something. It was a good idea where you can just infinitely kill the bad guys and just go on with your day, so I just kind of made that. There’s also abilities that I added as well. It took me about 10 minutes!

How do you get inspiration for your projects? I get my inspiration mostly from other games that I think are pretty good, and from the community board. I’ll play other games and then bring that idea back to Tynker.

Why do you like to code? I like to code because it’s just fun to be able to make your own game and have whatever you want. You can have your own ideas and there’s a lot of things you can do!

Do you have a favorite code block? My favorite block is probably the “on/start” button or “when I receive,” or the “broadcast” button.

What do you do with a project when you’re done with it? I just really check it out and see if I want to add anything to it. I don’t really ask anybody, I just go ahead and publish it!

What are you planning to make next? A game that I found on my Xbox called Skyrim. This one will be a little bit more kid-friendly!

What’s the best thing about Tynker? To be able to make your own game, I think is pretty cool!

How do you think learning to code has prepared you for the future? Pretty good so far. I’ve done quite a lot of things! It will help me quite a lot to become a game developer!

Do you think other kids should try coding? Yes, sure! That would be a good idea if they want to experiment with games and things, development, it’s kind of a puzzle!

What advice would you give to kids starting out with Tynker? Probably read the courses first so they actually know what they’re doing, so they won’t make the same mistake I did!

Eric, Bryce’s dad, is so excited about him learning how to code. “One thing that I thought about was Bryce’s generation consumes so much, but being able to be creative and create your own content is really cool. I want to encourage him to draw and do things that are creative that he makes himself and not just be a consumer. It’s a way for him to be a creator to make his content and I think that’s a cool thing for anybody, not just Bryce, but for all of us to have a little bit of area in your life to be creative.”

We definitely agree–we should work to be creators and not just consumers of the technology we use. Eric continued: “But, as far as Tynker specific, he stepped into it on his own with no instruction from us. Which is a testament that he gets into it and is able to progressively change his skill and I think the component of it where other kids watch your videos, which is similar to what his generation is about, which is videos, likes, and views, it’s got to be an encouragement. I like, as a parent, that he’s going through a problem solving process. He comes up with an idea, he creates it, surely it’s going to have some problems that he’s going to have to refine, that’s a life skill and that focus with patience to stay with it and not give up to make it better.”

Eric supports Bryce by knowing what he is doing and making sure that he can provide what he needs. “I’m interested in knowing how much time he is on the device but also what he’s doing on the device. I always looked at Minecraft as something that’s creative. He is totally creating in Minecraft. I feel like the amount of worlds he’s created is insane, but not just Minecraft, Tynker is really creative! To me, that screen time, I feel better about it as a parent; I definitely categorize Tynker and Minecraft as creative time.”

The future is full of possibilities because Bryce is learning code, so Eric is sure that he is better prepared for the future. “I’m confident that there’s a link here between the problem solving that he’s doing and math and science. It’s not just about game designing, it’s the same kind of thought process as like an engineer or architect. There’s a whole element of that math and science thing that I really think this plays into, so I think it’s great.”

We were so excited to speak to Bryce and Eric and learn how they feel about coding. We can’t wait to see what projects Bryce will create next! Happy coding!