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Ok guys, at the end of last the school year, my son participated in a project, making a platformer using Scratch. He totally dug it! I’ve sat down with him a few times, to work through a javascript tutorial, building a hello-worldish game using the html5 canvas.

Now what he’d really like to build is a tower defense game! It really needs to be javascript and playable in a browser, so that it can be played on an iPod or some other mobile device.

So given that as a 10 year old, he has a lot more time on his hands than I’ve got to spend time working through the code in a tutorial with him – and perhaps there is the off chance that I might be inclined to explain a wee bit too much programming theory too him right at the very beginning (not that I’d do that… I’m just sayin)- does anyone have any recommendations? Ideally, something of a video series.

I did my tower defense in Unity, and it doesn't take a lot to make it.. You just need the models and some unityscript (javascript syntax) to controll the game

For a web browser game with HTML5 Canvas and stuff i would recommend (not sure if 10 year old'able) those basic tutorials that teach how to handle the canvas and the graphics and then the game controllers and knowing that is not that hard to move to a tower defense game.

Sorry not to point any links good luck.

After checking out Scratch, which I had never heard of before, I would definitely suggest something like Contruct 2. It is very visual, allowing you to put together the world and entities almost like a Photoshop image. But it does a great job at teaching programming logic through its event system, where you set up very programming-like conditions, entity or system targets, actions, and sub-events, if needed. You can make very complex games with it.

Also, it outputs HTML5, and includes several export modules to export to native iPhone/iPad games that can be sold in the App Store with HTML5 wrappers like PhoneGap, AppMobi, and CocoonJS. It also supports many other platforms, such as Android, Windows 8, Windows Phone, PC, etc. all with the power of HTML5.

It isn't free, but I think it is a great next step for him, and it isn't too pricey. I am afraid going directly to full programming is going to make game development lose its magic, and feel more like school. But if he gets into Construct 2, he will likely naturally want to move on to coding for more control and power, and will be well-equipped to do so after learning C2's event system. You also can get results really fast, oftentimes having something playable and visual in under 10 or 15 minutes, versus the sometimes hours of setting up a code-only game before it is even runnable.

There is a free version as well, so he could try it out before spending any money. There are a couple of great beginner tutorials in the manual that the free version can complete.

As for tutorials, YouTube and the C2 site itself has tons of them