Basil's interest in creating his games grew at age 7 after he got scolded for spending all of his time playing.
"There was this day he was on the tablet, as usual, he was so carried away with the game he was playing that I got upset with him," his father said.
"Out of annoyance, I said to him, 'you are always playing games, can't you think about building your own games so others can play yours too?'. I was angry when I said it, and I did not know he took it seriously," he added.
There is always so much in the media today about children spending too much time playing on mobile/computer games, so it is good to see that children are being encouraged to think about what goes into making them.
At 9 years old, my friends and I would often make up games to play in the street or in the garden. These would often involve hide-and-seek, or chasing after each other like mad things with one person pretending to be a wolf or some sort of monster and the others having to get away, or having to get from one side of a room or garden to another without touching the ground or role playing games of various professions (doctors, teachers, shopkeepers etc.). It is interesting to see how aspects of childhood such as making up your own games have been swept up in the digital revolution! One of his games is a hide-and-seek game, another is called "frog attack" (which I assume involves some sort of chase and escape scenario) and aren't platform games just the digital equivalent of getting from one side to another without touching the ground? And the boy himself is role playing as a coder!