Hi, just wanted to start a discussion regarding Gaming on Linux for Kids.
I know there are the KDE and Gnome games collections but I want to discuss or find regarding high quality games that are a bit more advanced.

@HerrLange ...My advice would be to use RetroArch, with you as parent curating the emulated game roms..

sudo pacman -S retroarch
With Internet Archive <-- (psst.. this is where the good stuff is at..)

..aught to serve your purpose ;)


and, People need to keep in mind that below 13yo is against Valve/Steam T0S for Steam accounts.. So don't do that..

ps: https://archive.org/donate/
#ArchiveTeam

Last edited by Duck Hunt-Pr0 on 24 April 2021 at 11:36 pm UTC

Mine have now started playing Stardew Valley. They are insta-addicted in a positive manner. As a father/parent I‘m really surprised how well this is suited for kids if you think that kids should game on linux from time to time. You have to read, you have to calculate and count a bit. They have to concentrate longer and its not making them crazy cause of thrill and too much excitement. The monster in the mines are quite ok and still give a little thrill.

However the only thing I would criticize is that you have to „bribe“ people to become their friends. Real friendship does not work like this. That you have to mention, especially know with corona caused limited contacts to their real friends.

My kids are all grown now but when they were younger we use to stick to arcade (like Duck Hunt-Pr0 suggested) like games (for the kids that were into video games at all) until they hit a certain age (usually around 13ish) then they would make monitored accounts to play games online with their cousins and other kids we knew IRL. Around 16ish they would get into online games with strangers. It seemed strict but it's what my wife and I were comfortable with back then.

One of the best gaming moments I can recall for my 2 youngest was playing PAPO y YO with them. It's an adventure game with themes of family and childhood involved. Don't want to spoil it but it opened up a bunch of conversations about the content for weeks after ending it. Later on we went on to play To The Moon which had the same effect. This was around the time they came together in a Humble Bundle.

The games that stuck out as I recall were Epic Inventor (Wine), Minecraft/Minetest, Icy Tower (Wine), Teeworlds, Crayon Physics Deluxe, SuperTuxKart, Black & White (Wine), Super Street Fighter II (Emu), Fatal Fury Special (Emu), KOF 2002 (Emu), World of Padman, FlatOut, ReVolt (Wine) and HotWheels Beat That! (Wine)

As they got older they got into Doom (1993), Quake 3/Live and other LAN based stuff.

Figured I'd pop in here and add a thumbs up for Stardew Valley.

Mine, 7 y/o, does ok with the text, but is particularly attracted to the farming and mine adventures. The social "friendship" mechanic doesn't really interest them, partly, I think, some of the reading might be a little advanced.

But this got me thinking.... Stay with me on this one... Roguelikes?

Simple gameplay loop, replayability, good variation and steady power curve...

Any kid friendly Roguelikes out there? I'm thinking more in the real time, non gore type? So no Diablo, Caves of Qud, TOME.

Thoughts?

Last edited by denyasis on 19 July 2021 at 12:42 am UTC

If you want your children to taste the bitter tears of failure and the head-banging-against-the-wall frustration of utter helplessness, then sure, roguelikes are the way to go ;-)

I'd be more inclined to say metroidvanias. I'm doing Alwa's Awakening now it that would be great... it's hard as nails, though, so children are more than likely to give up.

Good point... I'm more thinking "rogue like" rather liberally in game design. More the random elements with replayability. Less "you be been killed by an unknown potion"

I was perusing last night and Slay the Spire caught my attention. I'm not really into card games (I think?)... But it looked fairly streamlined and the art looked cute.

I'm thinking of getting the children a little something next month as a back to school treat, providing I can afford it and they complete thier summer home work.

Last edited by denyasis on 20 July 2021 at 12:20 am UTC

I was perusing last night and Slay the Spire caught my attention. I'm not really into card games (I think?)... But it looked fairly streamlined and the art looked cute.

I have an eight-year old who jumped right into Slay the Spire and thinks it's great. He understands Pokemon cards just fine, so a deck-building game wasn't a huge stretch for him.

Also, it never hurts to add Googly Eyes.

Just in case somebody is still reading or searching in here, my Kids are now 7 and 9 and we have some new games from GOG in our library:

Flatout 2 (is prepacked with wine and I had to manually install some libs to get it run)
Parkitect

Especially parkitect seems to be very funny for them. I can really recommend Parkitect for Kids that are able to read and do some basic math.

Here's some that my little one's been enjoying (he's now 6) that I've posted about in the Discord but might also be of interest here:
Islanders
Refunct
The Last Cube (note that you can't remap the keys, so he's been using a controller)

When my 10yo doesn't game on the Switch or mobile, we have a gaming server they can stream from to their Linux box or the living room TV via Steam Remote Play.

Popular titles:
- Celeste.
- Crashlands (local multiplayer, controller - usually with me).
- Gang Beasts (local multiplayer, controller).
- Knights & Bikes (local multiplayer, controller - usually with me).
- A bunch of the LEGO games (imported what we had on discs into RPCS3 - local multiplayer, controller).
- Minecraft.
- Octodad (local multiplayer, controller).
- Pikuniku.
- Samorost 3.
- Scribblenauts.
- Slime Rancher.
- Super Bomberman (local multiplayer, controller).
- Unpacking.

Regarding screen time limits that happens quite naturally on weekdays with school + after-school club not leaving much time around dinner before bedtime. On weekends there's a three hour cap per day and no earlier than noon. That last factor easily leads to lots of screen-free days when we end up heading out and doing other stuff until crashing back home exhausted.

Thx for the new input, Still appreciated.

In the meanwhile I transgressed my own policies and my Kids have now an own steam account even if they are not yet 12.

I did this because a lot of suggestions here required steam. Secondly they are actually hooked on Yu-Gi-Oh! and they wished to play cards (and the computer is cheaper than the real cards ;-) ). So I bought a copy of Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist for them and they really like it.

My daughter is now 10 years old and my son 8 years old. If yours can read I can recommend Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist.

But I'm very skeptical regarding the free to play MMOG card games like Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duell, Haerthstone, etc. So I'm glad that there is still the legacy of real games without pay2win and huge grind requirements. I actually try to explain them that time has a value and such "free to play" games try to take your time and therefore are not really for free.

Regarding screen time limits that happens quite naturally on weekdays with school + after-school club not leaving much time around dinner before bedtime. On weekends there's a three hour cap per day and no earlier than noon

I can feel you there, now that school is out, we've been doing it in reverse. They are allowed video games in the morning. Of course it's our rainy season here, so it all goes out the window when it rains all day every few days. We're a little more liberal there when everyone's stuck inside.

Truth be told, we've pretty much dropped gaming on Linux for the kids in my house the last few months. It's a matter of logistics. The only PC is in the bedroom, which requires constant supervision if a kid is up there (logins, steam hassle, sharing, keeping them out of things they shouldn't touch). It's not hard, but compared to pressing a button on the TV to turn on the switch, I can see how consoles win in the convience factor. And we're not sequestering people away in the upstairs bedroom, lol.



Last edited by denyasis on 29 May 2022 at 1:52 pm UTC

Thx for the new input, Still appreciated.

In the meanwhile I transgressed my own policies and my Kids have now an own steam account even if they are not yet 12.

I did this because a lot of suggestions here required steam. Secondly they are actually hooked on Yu-Gi-Oh! and they wished to play cards (and the computer is cheaper than the real cards ;-) ). So I bought a copy of Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist for them and they really like it.

My daughter is now 10 years old and my son 8 years old. If yours can read I can recommend Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist.

But I'm very skeptical regarding the free to play MMOG card games like Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duell, Haerthstone, etc. So I'm glad that there is still the legacy of real games without pay2win and huge grind requirements. I actually try to explain them that time has a value and such "free to play" games try to take your time and therefore are not really for free.

FYI, Steam has parental controls. You can set a pin and hide the market & social components of your kids accounts.

Truth be told, we've pretty much dropped gaming on Linux for the kids in my house the last few months. It's a matter of logistics. The only PC is in the bedroom, which requires constant supervision if a kid is up there (logins, steam hassle, sharing, keeping them out of things they shouldn't touch). It's not hard, but compared to pressing a button on the TV to turn on the switch, I can see how consoles win in the convience factor. And we're not sequestering people away in the upstairs bedroom, lol.

It's maybe not an option for everyone, but our computers are in our dining room, in the middle of the house, and the main thoroughfare. The things that happen on them are things that everyone's comfortable with everyone else seeing. And, later, with online interactions with their peers, there won't be the situation of them getting upset alone & vulnerable because there's not going to be any long period of time when mum isn't going to be at least wandering past to make a cuppa.

Truth be told, we've pretty much dropped gaming on Linux for the kids in my house the last few months. It's a matter of logistics. The only PC is in the bedroom, which requires constant supervision if a kid is up there (logins, steam hassle, sharing, keeping them out of things they shouldn't touch). It's not hard, but compared to pressing a button on the TV to turn on the switch, I can see how consoles win in the convience factor. And we're not sequestering people away in the upstairs bedroom, lol.

It's maybe not an option for everyone, but our computers are in our dining room, in the middle of the house, and the main thoroughfare. The things that happen on them are things that everyone's comfortable with everyone else seeing. And, later, with online interactions with their peers, there won't be the situation of them getting upset alone & vulnerable because there's not going to be any long period of time when mum isn't going to be at least wandering past to make a cuppa.

Growing up, the family PC was in the living room. I totally agree that having it "in the open" was beneficial. I learned a lot just sitting and watching other family members doing their thing on the PC, from work to gaming.

Either way, it would be nice to have a more accessable/family oriented spot for the PC. I'd like to build a SFF box I can put in the dining room, but that's gonna take some saving for a while, lol.

Truth be told, we've pretty much dropped gaming on Linux for the kids in my house the last few months. It's a matter of logistics. The only PC is in the bedroom, which requires constant supervision if a kid is up there (logins, steam hassle, sharing, keeping them out of things they shouldn't touch). It's not hard, but compared to pressing a button on the TV to turn on the switch, I can see how consoles win in the convience factor. And we're not sequestering people away in the upstairs bedroom, lol.

It's maybe not an option for everyone, but our computers are in our dining room, in the middle of the house, and the main thoroughfare. The things that happen on them are things that everyone's comfortable with everyone else seeing. And, later, with online interactions with their peers, there won't be the situation of them getting upset alone & vulnerable because there's not going to be any long period of time when mum isn't going to be at least wandering past to make a cuppa.

This is where our compromise with a central gaming machine streaming to potato clients comes in handy (aside from the obvious budget bonus).

For online interactions we make a habit of asking EOD what the online session was like and talk through it. Helps keep an eye on anything potentially building, squashing it early, and establishes that line of comms as natural.

Hi,
Quick note for other parents. Just tried:
Luna's Fishing Garden (1477790
It is great for a 4 or 5 years old.

Little ones (5 yo) are playing A Building Full of Cats at the moment, a nice hidden obj cats game.

It's maybe not an option for everyone, but our computers are in our dining room, in the middle of the house, and the main thoroughfare. The things that happen on them are things that everyone's comfortable with everyone else seeing. And, later, with online interactions with their peers, there won't be the situation of them getting upset alone & vulnerable because there's not going to be any long period of time when mum isn't going to be at least wandering past to make a cuppa.

My kids are adults now but when they were younger we did the same. Two desktops wired connected in the living room. When they got to 16/17 they took their computers to the room or sold it for a laptop.

My family is very close so luckily we always have a few cousins to put in a server together to play something. My eldest got into D&D playing co-op RPGs with her cousins while my youngest got into fighting games playing with her cousins in her age bracket that were in fighters.

khangman :-)

Fun, and educational. (Well, I think that's actually in kdeedu, not games)

I'm not just being a smart ass, it's a game I enjoyed playing with kids.