Sean Gallagher, Ars Technica:

On the heels of the Boy Scouts introducing a merit badge for game design, the Girl Scouts are going one better by developing a badge program to bring girls into the world of video game development. The effort is a collaboration between Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles and Women in Games International.

Gamestar Mechanic, the tool the Girl Scouts are emphasizing, is cross-platform compatible with Mac and Windows, since it runs in a web browser, but it requires Flash, so it’s a no-go on iOS and other Flash-resistant platforms.

Regardless, I’m delighted to see the Girl Scouts add such a cool, STEM-friendly effort. Anything that gets girls interested and engaged in game development is worth supporting.

[Editor’s note: Jim, we should put Bonnie on the payroll. She’s finding cool links!]