When Ezra — whose parents asked that his last name not be used — was 7 years old, he attended a tech camp.
Inspired, he started developing his own game. He called it “One Line.”
Ezra worked steadily on it. Finally, when it was finished, he posted it on Scratch — an online community developed at MIT to help young kids learn the basics of coding.
It went unnoticed for 10 days. Then, Ezra’s mom says, it was highlighted in a section called “Featured Projects.”
Overnight, Ezra’s game got over 16,000 views — and more than 1000 comments. Nearly all were very positive.
A screen shot of “One Line.”
Within 2 days Ezra was asked to remake Pacman for Scratch, sell the rights for an app, make a sequel, and help design other games. He’s also been warned to copyright his project, which his mother says is a good idea.
“I don’t think any of the gamers know he’s 8 years old,” she adds. “It’s all a bit overwhelming for him.”
So Ezra did what any normal, viral-game-sensation game creator would do: He turned off the comments.
And went outside to play.
(Click here for Ezra’s game. Enjoy the comments that were posted before he turned them off!)