Library Games Club - Suggestions/ideas

OwaynOTT

Hi guys. I work for a library and was asked to set up a event for kids and teens.

I thought a Mario Maker Making Club would be great. They could play the game for an hour or so and watch me make a level or two. Or just give them a few pointers on where to start.
Send them home with some graph paper and what have you and get them to design a few of their own.
Make a few of my own-hardish- and have some sort of competition.

Got me thinking, why not just do a full on games club. Retro stuff and all.

Looking for suggestion or ideas and what we could do or run. Like is there any free software that they can code their own games or such such.
Any gaming related books or activities.

Not sure of the age groups yet. Could have 8-12,12-18 and 18+ (would just be kinda like the beers meet up that he do on here).

CiDeRmAn

Raspberry Pi would seem like the way to go.
Plenty of scope for Scratch and Python programming plus plenty of games that users can modify , learning as they go.
Also, you could make simple robots and music projects, Makey Makey type things.
RP will also run Minecraft, and there maybe a further discount for an educational purchase.

OwaynOTT

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Raspberry Pi would seem like the way to go.
Plenty of scope for Scratch and Python programming plus plenty of games that users can modify , learning as they go.
Also, you could make simple robots and music projects, Makey Makey type things.
RP will also run Minecraft, and there maybe a further discount for an educational purchase.

Budget is pretty much none-existent though.

Steve X2

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Budget is pretty much none-existent though.

Scratch on the Raspberry Pi is a great beginners programming tool for kids(simple games can be made quite quickly). Pi zero is about 5 euro and you could prob pull together the various other things you'll need(keyb, mouse, screen etc).

OwaynOTT

Steve X2 wrote: »

Scratch on the Raspberry Pi is a great beginners programming tool for kids(simple games can be made quite quickly). Pi zero is about 5 euro and you could prob pull together the various other things you'll need(keyb, mouse, screen etc).

Didn't realise they were so cheap. Is it sold out everywhere though?

OwaynOTT

By the way, if anyone comes across any cheap deals on basic stuff like Snes controllers, Mario games, consoles etc please pop a link in here.
I know there's a bargains thread but stuff like Mario all stars for a tenner on adverts don't pop up on there because most have it on here.

Also what kinda of link cable do I need to connect up two GCs for a massive multiplayer Mario kart?

Star Lord

OwaynOTT wrote: »

By the way, if anyone comes across any cheap deals on basic stuff like Snes controllers, Mario games, consoles etc please pop a link in here.
I know there's a bargains thread but stuff like Mario all stars for a tenner on adverts don't pop up on there because most have it on here.

Also what kinda of link cable do I need to connect up two GCs for a massive multiplayer Mario kart?

You'd need two of the network adapters for the Gamecubes, and a crossover cable, which is just a network cable with some wires switched round, and means you can connect two items without needing a hub / switch.

michaelc4739

You could emulate a nintendo world championship rom and have a competetition ?

Myrddin

You could pick up an original Xbox, mod it, & enjoy a plethora of retro emulation on it. They can be got for small money, & modding is easy enough

Steve X2

Myrddin wrote: »

You could pick up an original Xbox, mod it, & enjoy a plethora of retro emulation on it. They can be got for small money, & modding is easy enough

Would a modded Wii be a better option for emulation than the Xbox? Plenty of them around and as far as I remember they can all be soft modded quite easily.

Myrddin

Steve X2 wrote: »

Would a modded Wii be a better option for emulation than the Xbox? Plenty of them around and as far as I remember they can all be soft modded quite easily.

Maybe, but the classic controllers cost a few euro I think. Not sure how apt a Wiimote is for retro gaming either, outside of a few one/two button consoles. I think I've seen Retr0 say the emulation is terrible too, so that's why I was thinking Xbox...Mame etc with an original Xbox pad could be done very cheap I think

Retr0gamer

Emulation on the wii for homebrew emulation is indeed awful. And it's not just me being pedantic either. Sound is way off and despite the Wii being unique in that is can output the correct resolutions of all these old consoles the people that made the emulators just decided to duplicate pixels at intervals leading to an awful shimmering effect when you move vertically in games.

Steve X2

Ah ok, I never knew it was so bad on Wii.

OwaynOTT

Gah! I gave away my xbox to a nephew the year before last, hope he still has it and hasn't thrown it out.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

CiDeRmAn

You'll pick the original Xbox up for buttons at Sunday markets, and mod them to run all sorts of good stuff on the machine afterwards.

Steve X2

Or, get the Xbox and let the kids do the mod, or go through it with them.
Might be an interesting little project with some gaming as a reward at the end of it.

mahoganygas

OP I have an old xbox 360 I was thinking of throwing onto adverts for a few quid.

If you want it for the library I'd be happy to donate.

OwaynOTT

Steve X2 wrote: »

Or, get the Xbox and let the kids do the mod, or go through it with them.
Might be an interesting little project with some gaming as a reward at the end of it.

That's a good idea actually.

mahoganygas wrote: »

OP I have an old xbox 360 I was thinking of throwing onto adverts for a few quid.

If you want it for the library I'd be happy to donate.

Sorry, can't take any donations on here but you could post a link to your ad on adverts, when you put it up. Thanks though.

OwaynOTT

Well, this got off to a great start today. Brought in a snes and a few games just to start it off before the time slot got used fro something else and I forgot the cables to hook it up to the TV.

o1s1n

Make sure you at least bring in an rgb cable - I'd imagine with all the HD screens kids look at today they wouldn't actually be able to see composite. :pac:

Myrddin

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Well, this got off to a great start today. Brought in a snes and a few games just to start it off before the time slot got used fro something else and I forgot the cables to hook it up to the TV.

What games did you bring in?

OwaynOTT

Myrddin wrote: »

What games did you bring in?

Mario kart, all stars, mario world, super mario land (gameboy player), alladin, mickey magical quest, fzero.

Haven't a great collection of stuff anymore, so im quite limited until I pick up a few more games.
Going to try and get Bomberman and a multi-tap soon.

I have a gamecube lined up to come in as well. Mario Kart Double Dash is all I have for that currently.

Also have a WiiU ready to go, so Mario Maker for that. Mario Kart again, yoshi wooly world, donkey kong, tank tank tank, smash bros.

OwaynOTT

o1s1n wrote: »

Make sure you at least bring in an rgb cable - I'd imagine with all the HD screens kids look at today they wouldn't actually be able to see composite. :pac:

Also Retro would get me fired :pac:

PaulPriest

At the younger end of the spectrum, I think you initially hit the nail on the head.
My 6yr old loves designing contraptions in both Super Mario Maker and Minecraft. Pullmo/Pushmo on the WiiU/3DS are similarly great.
However, he's not yet able to play fast-paced action games. Mario Kart, Smash Brothers, even Yoshi's Woolly World or Super Mario Bros Wii U are too frustrating.
For the bigger kids, competitive racing games with no CPU components work well. Super Monkey Ball (or 2) go down particularly well on the GCN.

Also, nothing like a bit of arcade TMNT/Simpsons/X-Men if you have some emulation going on (or there were XBLA re-releases of these, though all delisted now).

Out of interest, where is this library? Sounds like a great thing you have going on there.

OwaynOTT

It's Midlands area.

It's a long way from being officially set up but we had an impromptu session today with a bunch 6-10 years olds playing Mario Bros 3.
By and large they were woeful. Struggled to get last 1-1 but they still loved it.
One guy was fairly good though. And another guy, just like killing Mario in new ways.

Been looking around for stuff and it's so expensive nowadays. Even for the dirty crappy common stuff.
By the way, check your local hardware stores if you're from a small town. A guy got a fully boxed mint turtle edition Nes with games for a €10 . It was new old stock.

human 19

If you have a PC you can set up some linux OS on, like linux mint (free), you could download the game Pingus(free) which is based on the old game Lemmings. It has a level creator built in. I had a couple of kids in the house who loved building levels.

OwaynOTT

Almost 80 kids confirmed for our Mario Maker club. How did Nintendo feck up the WiiU? The extent of my advertising in a small rural town was a few posters and a Facebook post and get a huge response.

8 weeks of this and then a double dash tournament with 8 players games across the county. With Mushroom, banana and star trophy lined up for the winners.

OwaynOTT

Finished up the Maker Club last Friday and thank ****! They had me wrecked! 4 hours on Thursday and Friday everywhere with 4 groups of lunatics.
Some interesting levels, after the got the enemy spamming out of the way.
They are all being put up online before we have a little presentation for them and hopefully trying to get something worked with San Ffancisco libraries, who also had and are sitting up a maker club.
I'd appreciate if anyone who has Mario Maker here can keep an eye out in the Nintendo forum Maker thread levels thread.
Any stars or plays would be greatly appreciated.

Ok, that's done for now. Next up a Halloween themed video gameathon. Looking for suggestions for titles.
We have a pal Snes, GameCube, wii and WiiU. Haven't been able to source any other stuff for free or cheap.
I have castlevania, ghouls and goblins and zombies for the Snes. Looking for some suggestions for other titles for the above consoles.
Keep in mind it will be kids under the age of 12 mostly and budget isn't great.

OwaynOTT

Oh, the Snes was a great hit with Mario all stars on it. I thought the kids wouldn't be too pushed with it, what with all the new tangled doodads they have nowadays.

eddhorse

Zombies ate my neighbours is a great call.
Least they can coop that.
Ghouls N Ghosts might be too difficult.

Wolfenstein had a zombie nazi mod also.

Demons Crest on Snes?

Also Haunting Starring Polyerguy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rggV0jFxgK4

mahoganygas

eddhorse wrote: »

Zombies ate my neighbours is a great call.

+1

the groutch

If it weren't so pricey Luigi's Mansion would be an obvious pick.

Retr0gamer

Have you thought of running a coder dojo or even some gamemaker lessons? Introduce the kids to coding and making their own games.

OwaynOTT

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Have you thought of running a coder dojo or even some gamemaker lessons? Introduce the kids to coding and making their own games.

We are actively trying to set up a coder dojo. Looking at starting low key with that first. I have over 70 names down for interest but it's only me and one volunteer.
Also I'm trying to get that scratch and notepad plus etc installed on our public PCs but I have to wait on IT to come out and lift the restrictions. That could take months.

KeRbDoG

OwaynOTT wrote: »

We are actively trying to set up a coder dojo. Looking at starting low key with that first. I have over 70 names down for interest but it's only me and one volunteer.
Also I'm trying to get that scratch and notepad plus etc installed on our public PCs but I have to wait on IT to come out and lift the restrictions. That could take months.

Is there a live Linux distro to run scratch via a USB stick?

eddhorse

KeRbDoG wrote: »

OwaynOTT wrote: »

We are actively trying to set up a coder dojo. Looking at starting low key with that first. I have over 70 names down for interest but it's only me and one volunteer.
Also I'm trying to get that scratch and notepad plus etc installed on our public PCs but I have to wait on IT to come out and lift the restrictions. That could take months.

Is there a live Linux distro to run scratch via a USB stick?

Good idea, wont affect the current installs at all. Might need a bios change to allow boot from USB though.