6-year-old Alaskan girl codes video game

A 6-year-old Alaskan girl, Naomi Weisman, recently developed her own original video game called "Find Lennix."

Weisman unveiled her new game during the Alaska State Fair, giving members of the public the chance to play the game and learn about how she made it.

"It was fun showing it," Weisman said during a follow-up interview at the Anchorage Museum.

Weisman's mother Irene Boll said that she is the youngest known female video game developer as of the 2023 Fair season. She said that a 7-year-old girl Zora Ball previously held that title.

Weisman started learning how to code after discovering a website provided by the Anchorage School District. The site is called code.org and it's designed to teach anyone how to code. Fueled by her surge of inspiration, Weisman quickly immersed herself in the code writing process and started learning a block coding language called Blockly.

As Weisman developed her skills, she hatched an idea for a game she could make. She decided that she wanted to create a hide and seek style game.

She started with a short mini-game where cute characters said certain phrases to show how far through the player was from the correct selection. When the correct character was clicked, the game was over.

After months of development, Weisman had a game that was almost ready to play. She encountered several bugs but she ultimately was able to access additional developer tools to work on her game more efficiently.

Boll drew an assortment of characters and backgrounds that her daughter utilized in her game. Weisman was also able to add unique music and sounds that were created in GarageBand, even finding help from a family friend who provided voices for the characters.

Weisman eventually fixed most of the major bugs and the game was playable just in time for the Fair.

Weisman is currently adding more levels and challenges for players. The game is mobile friendly and she hopes to make it available as an app for smartphones.

Weisman said that she plans to keep making original games because she enjoys the process of making her ideas come to life.

"I think coding is fun," Weisman said.

Boll said that she’s immensely proud of her daughter's accomplishment. She said that she's always been a smart and creative child and learned how to read at the age of three so it made sense she was able to create her own game at such a young age.

"I'm not exactly surprised," Boll said with a laugh. "She's just a cool kid."

Weisman said that she wants to be a ballerina and a scientist when she grows up.

Boll said that she has great faith in her daughter's abilities and knows she can achieve any goal she sets out to accomplish. She said that's true for both her children and all the world's children with dreams in their hearts.

"They have the opportunities to become whoever they want to be," Boll said. "As adults, I hope that they'll have happy, healthy, thriving lives. That's what parents hope for their kids right?"

Anyone interested in playing "Find Lennix" can play for free at findlennix.com.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com