At just 6 years and 335 days of age, Simar Khurana became the world’s youngest videogame developer by creating a fun, but also educational, videogame for kids.
It’s not unusual for kids that age to spend much of their free time playing videogames, but the young girl from Beamsville, Ontario, Canada decided she wanted to make them, too. That’s why less than a year ago she started learning coding, taking three classes a week.
Simar’s father Paras is the one who noticed his daughter’s aptitude for maths and coding.
“Simar learnt math on her own by watching YouTube videos,” he told us. “While in Kindergarten, she was able to do Grade 3 maths. She was making crafts and games with whatever she had, sometimes just out of waste paper.
“I felt that she would naturally excel at coding as she had an ideal combination of skills. So, I got her to try a demo coding class which she loved!”
Finding a coding class for Simar wasn’t easy, as most coding institutes refused to take her due to her age.
Game development requires advanced reading and writing and most people found it hard to believe that Simar could do both at such a high level for her age. After a long search, however, a teacher was found and Simar’s developing journey finally started.
After a few months of classes, she decided she wanted to create a videogame for kids her age.
After a visit to the family doctor, where he lectured her and her elder sister for eating junk food, she came up with the idea for the game, which she named Healthy Food Challenge.
The doctor said I have to eat healthy, so I decided to make a game about healthy food and junk food - Simar
In a very unique way, Simar wants to help her peers learn what’s considered as healthy and unhealthy food, what the impact of junk food is and just how important it is to have a balanced diet from a young age.
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Creating the Healthy Food Challenge from scratch, however, was no… piece of cake.
In fact, when Simar and her father decided that she would attempt a Guinness World Records title, they realized that they only had four months to do it in order to make the age limit.
“Simar was determined and willing to work hard,” Paras said. “We increased her classes […], she started taking 4 classes a week. At the same time she was learning dance, gymnastics and karate which she wanted to continue, as well.
“Imagine a 6-year-old who goes to school and after that, she has 1-2 classes each day and has to do coding projects which required 1-2 hours of practise each day.
“It was intense, [it would be] even for a grown-up!”
Simar loves math and coding, and she says she wants to be a game developer when she grows up.
Well, technically, she already is!
Recently, she made her first steps towards AI and Machine Learning. This is all useful knowledge for anyone who is serious about wanting to develop educational games and apps for kids.
She also has a YouTube channel, named Simar’s World, through which she intends to connect with other kids and share her ideas for more games.
Simar is very happy with her achievement and, when asked, she didn’t say no to the possibility of attempting more records in the future.
With such an iconic record title under her belt before the age of seven, we can’t wait to see what’s next for little Simar!
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