In this episode, Meryl van der Merwe talks with Matt Dalio, founder of Endless Studios, about why game creation—not just game playing—can equip teens with powerful, real-world skills for future careers.

Matt shares:

How early experiences living in China and working with orphans shaped his desire to create worldwide access to digital skills.

Why technological literacy today is lower than literacy in the Dark Ages, and why that must change.

His belief that millions of young people can gain job-ready technical skills through creating games.

Uses real professional tools such as Unity, Unreal, Godot, Blender, and GitHub.

Teaches computational thinking, teamwork, project management, design, and coding.

Mirrors real-world workflows used in startups and tech companies.

Allows kids to shift from consumers to creators.

All of these are free to download:

EndStar
Endless Studios’ tool built on Unity, designed to take students from Minecraft-level skills to professional-level game engine skills. It includes wiring systems, logic blocks, and gradual scaffolding into real scripting.

Godot
An open-source engine that runs well on low-end computers. Endless Studios is building scaffolding tools on top of it, including block coding and collaborative editing features.

Roblox Studio
Ideal for kids already using Roblox. Uses Lua scripting and has a large online community.

Scratch
A simple entry-level environment that helps absolute beginners understand basic logic and design principles.

Matt also recommends courses on Udemy, Coursera, and similar platforms for structured learning. Many students, like past podcast guest Matthew, have taught themselves professional-level skills using these resources.

Matt emphasizes that students learn best through collaboration. Platforms like GitHub allow students to contribute to real-world projects, receive mentorship, and learn modern software development workflows. This form of apprenticeship is one of the most effective and scalable ways to build proficiency.

You do not need to know anything about game design to support your child.

Game creation teaches real workforce skills, even for students who never plan to work in gaming.

Encourage your students to shift from playing games to building them.

The motivation and joy that come from creating something they love are powerful teaching tools.

Matt welcomes interest from parents.  Email: [email protected]

Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattdalio/

Endless Studios: https://endlessstudios.com

EndStar: Free download from Endless Studios

Godot Game Engine: https://godotengine.org

Roblox Studio: https://create.roblox.com

Scratch: https://scratch.mit.edu

Udemy: https://udemy.com

Coursera: https://coursera.org

Take a look at show sponsor, FundaFunda Academy to see what they offer for online classes and web-based unit studies.

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