Hi,
Is it possible for kids with only HTML/CSS programming experience to do game programming in SilverLight 4.0?
They are using Visual Web Developer 2010 Express edition.
Do they have to learn c# or any other language since they are just starting out?
Thanks
Well, lets start that - HTML / CSS is not programming. There is no logic in there that requires programming, so ANY programming is a totalyl different area an they will have to get started at point 0. If you would have javascript in the HTML/CSS side that would be different.
C# would be required - Silverlight backend is done in C#. Quite a lot is required. C# for logic, XAML for the UI, including the powerfull mechanisms for databinding etc. Not a totally easy starter, but as a nice side course it could work.
They will have to learn C#, yes. You can do a lot of the visuals using the XAML declarative markup, but the logic will be driven by C# code.
What age range are you talking about? I imagine if you had really smart kids, they could pick-up SilverLight 4.0, but yes, learning C# for the logic and XAML for the GUI would be required.
Ergo, my recommendation is to skip SilverLight given your requirements.
Instead, you should try Scratch which is a programming language designed for kids. It's very visually based and introduces the basic concepts of programming yet allows them to create their own games with ease.
I would say that Silverlight (and infact HTML/Javascript) would be difficult for children to grasp and easily produce a game without getting bored and frustrated.
You could try Kodu as a possible alternative:
Kodu is a visual programming language made specifically for creating games. It is designed to be accessible for children and enjoyable for anyone.
Kodu provides an end-to-end creative environment for designing, building, and playing your own new games. The core of the Kodu project is the programming user interface. The language is simple and entirely icon-based. Programs are composed of pages, which are broken down into rules, which are further divided into conditions and actions. Conditions are evaluated simultaneously.