Kids today: I am your competition

Game design is not complicated.

There is a limited and universal collection of rule sets - some of which can be adapted, synthesized, or re-scoped - from which all games are derived.

And programs like Flash, the Game Salad app, or the ipad SDK open the doors to anyone with the time, imagination, and follow-through to build.

Fourteen seems like the right age, really.

This is also a good place to say the following: Kids can do a lot more than we, the "grown ups", act like they can. Imagine who we could become if we let them do what they want?


Teen's Bubble Ball game tops iTunes free app chart

Page last updated at 11:25 GMT, Wednesday, 19 January 2011

A game designed by a 14-year-old boy has topped the iTunes worldwide free app charts, ahead of the likes of Facebook and Skype.

Robert Nay, from Utah in the USA, created Bubble Ball, a "physics puzzle game" for Apple devices.

He learned how to code the game from a library book, after a friend's dad suggested he try to make an app.

On Wednesday (19 January), Bubble Ball had been downloaded two million times, according to Robert's figures.

It was also ahead of the free version of hit game Angry Birds.

"I think it's pretty cool because I never thought my game would do that well," Robert told ABC News.

"My friend's dad suggested I try making an iPhone app and I thought, 'Why not, that'd be pretty cool,' so I checked out a book from the library.

"When I saw that it was number one for the free apps, I was astonished."

He also says he plans to make more games, but his next project is "a secret".