Whizz kid, 11, building iOS games for charity

An aspiring games developer aged eleven wants to raise money for charity by creating a range of iPhone and iPad apps for other children.

Pennsylvanian Conner Haines (pictured) has established a non-profit organisation, called Believe, that promises to direct all App Store revenues to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

One of his games in development, called Take Me Back, is an adventure title where the lead protagonist must travel home from outer space.

“The game should be finished in 2013,” he told regional newspaper Berks Mont News.

On his website, flipflopgames.com, Haines has established a contact page where 5-12 year old cancer patients can send him ideas for games to create.

Haines said he would be able to complete games projects within two to three months of starting each one. Each will launch on the App Store as well as his personal web site, with all profits going to charity.

His games are built through GameSalad, a new tool suite that is said requires no knowledge of programming languages to get the most out of. The tech builds games principally through a drag-and-drop user interface, with games exported in HTML5 code.

Haines said he has long held a desire to create his own games, and had planned to enrol in a $900 video game development camp but had missed registration deadlines.

But upon discovering GameSalad, he said, building games and apps has been easy work.

“Once I understood the basics I was able to make my own mini-games,” he said.

“And I even made an e-book for my one of my sisters.”