They have just started with Slime Rancher. Looks like they like it. Let's see how the long term motivation will be.

Thx for the hint @Liam

I don't be pretty sure, but If you don't dislike commercial or closed-source games, real farm could be good. It's available on Steam and have a native version.

There's Terraria on GOG and Spelunky HD Classic on the Snap Store.

Well, I just strongly believe that Kids needs to have access to all the techy things like tablets, PCs, TV and Gaming consoles to learn dealing with them and because it's natural to use this kind of stuff. On the other hand side I strongly believe that too much of it is not good for their development. Especially my 6 year old son is really sucked into the games and tends to forget everything around and just thinking nothing else than his favorite computer games. I think he is in danger for computer gaming addiction. He clearly needs strict rules. This keeps him enjoying the games while still doing all the every day stuff and learn how to control the thing.

My sister set a similar limit on screen time for my nieces. I of course told them the same rules applies to adults, it was up to them to enforce it. She was quite upset when they hid her phone.

Surprisingly she became even angrier when she found it. But I mean, I can hardly be blamed for the kids hiding it in the back of the garage, on the floor, or her not finding it until after she had backed it over with the car...

Pingus/Lemmings is OK in the first levels but later not. My daughter really dislikes to sacrifice a few of the lemmings/pingus to save the rest of them. Since the first level which could be only bet by sacrificing the game is Blöd! (stupid). :-)

That kid's got heart! Nemo resido, semper fi little lemmings!

Btw, Slime Rancher is for now there new favorite game. During dinner they had technical dicussions wich diamond (they call the slime poo diamonds after some intervention from my side regarding more rude words :-) ) eaten by which slime leads to the best hybrids. I think my ears already starting bleeding from those slime stories. :-)

Btw, Slime Rancher is for now there new favorite game. During dinner they had technical dicussions wich diamond (they call the slime poo diamonds after some intervention from my side regarding more rude words :-) ) eaten by which slime leads to the best hybrids. I think my ears already starting bleeding from those slime stories. :-)

That's awesome. Once mine can read better in a few months and I solve some technical issues with it, it's up next to play.

Last edited by denyasis on 1 Jan 2021 at 12:31 am UTC

0ad for a 6 and 8 yeard old kit? I don't think so.Maybe in 3-4 years. :-)

My kids are 7 & 10 and have been gaming on Linux for a couple of years now :)

Their most played list ( arranged by when they started playing them chronologically )

- Action Henk
- Slime Rancher
- AER Memories of Old
- Fugl
- Portal ( 1 & 2 )
- Talos Principle ( there are a few parts of the game where you will properly need to assist in reading the massive walls of text )
- Poly Bridge
- Equilinox
- The Torchlight series
- The Trine series
- Raft [Wine]
- Among Us [Wine]

It may be tempting to get the LEGO series, but proton/wine support is wierd with these titles they will randomly break/refuse to launch every so often and kids aren't real patient of that sort of thing.

missed the part where you don't want them to have steam accounts yet, sorry all of my suggestions are on steam :|

- Talos Principle ( there are a few parts of the game where you will properly need to assist in reading the massive walls of text )

You can just completely ignore all the text with no repercussions. My one is 4, and loved it, but we just didn't bother with that part.

I have an 8-year old who plays video games on my computer (Ubuntu 20.04), via my Steam account. I'll flag specific games as "Family Games" (right-click on a title -> Manage -> Add to Family Games). Steam is set to always start in Family Mode, locked by a pin, so there's no access to the store or anything but the whitelisted games.

As for what he plays? Lego games. So many Lego games. All of the ones we've tried so far run great via Proton, and they can be played 2-player co-op. We've played Lego Batman 2 and 3, Lego Marvel Super-Heroes 1+2, Lego Marvel Avengers, and Lego DC Super-Villains. They range from good to great, with Lego Batman 3 the best of them so far. They're also regularly deeply discounted to below $10 each in Steam sales.

Another all-time favorite is Donut County, which was actually the first game my kid would play by himself (as in, with him using the controller independently). It's short, but wonderful.

Chuchel is a hilarious point-and-click puzzle game that's wonderfully animated and absolutely suitable for kids.

thx @Guppy @Chuckaluphagus for the additional input.

Maybe I have to rethink my attitude to steam. Action Henk really looks great like it could be real funny.

How is the Lego Co-Op mode is working on a single Computer? Splitscreen? How about controls?

@HerrLange, co-op mode for the Lego games uses split-screen when two players have moved far enough apart, then melds the two views back together as the players come back into proximity. It's handled well and lets both players explore a level or area independently, then join back up again for cooperative tasks and to battle enemies together.

Controls are with whatever device you choose. We've used Steam controllers, Gamecube controllers, keyboard - each player gets to have their own control device assigned and all the keys remapped, if you want to change anything.

In case anyone's children are in need of a management sim, I can suggest The Colonists and Two Point Hospital. Mine's too young to play them himself, but he loves watching them. I'll also be looking at getting Megaquarium and Parkitect in the future.

RTS: 0ad(alternative for: AoE(Age of Empires) 3)

Nothing wrong with that.
My 8 year old has built his own Dos machine from my parts bin, without my help just supervised.
Now playing Command and Conquer Red Alert.
As well as Subnautica and Satisfactory on his Virtual Machine.
My 3 year old is playing Portal 2.

Kanagram. Kanagram is a KDE letter-order game that aims to build children's vocabulary by teaching them words.
GCompris.
Tux Paint.
ChildsPlay.
KStars.
KWordQuiz.
Scratch.
Celestia.

My oldest (7) just started in on Polybridge. It's pretty fun although, I think it might be a little too advanced for them. I need to get them a mouse too. I realized my trackball is too big for their hands, which probably makes things harder than it should be.

I think it was mentioned before, but my children have really enjoyed "playing" along with Stardew Valley. Mostly it's watching my Spouse play the game and read to them the text.

We did a similar thing with Portal 1/2 and Hollow Knight when they were younger (3/5 I think). Part of it is that we live in what some would call a "small" house and only have one TV. So what one person plays, everyone watches.

It's actually kinda fun since everyone adds thier own commentary and suggestions. Portal was really fun that way. I never played that way before, being a solitary hobby for me, but it was nice making it more social. Probably wouldn't work for every game though.

My youngest still asks every so often about "Pertle - that game with the holes".

Last edited by denyasis on 20 Apr 2021 at 2:11 am UTC

My kids are grown but when they were that age they played a lot of games on GOG:

* Pajama Sam series
* Bit.Trip series
* Dust Force DX
* The Adventures of Shuggy
* Ittle Dew
* Tetrobot and Co.

It's actually kinda fun since everyone adds thier own commentary and suggestions. Portal was really fun that way. I never played that way before, being a solitary hobby for me, but it was nice making it more social. Probably wouldn't work for every game though.

The point-and-click adventure games work really well in that format. That's how I played all the classics back in the day, albeit with peers rather than family. You all get to share in the story and the (generally bonkers) puzzle-solving.

The point-and-click adventure games work really well in that format. That's how I played all the classics back in the day, albeit with peers rather than family. You all get to share in the story and the (generally bonkers) puzzle-solving.

Great idea!
I just tried Machinarium with the kids and they were captivated once I got it working (steam play/controller/link was a little..odd)

They really enjoyed yelling at the TV and
Coming up with solutions to the puzzles. It was a lot of fun!