HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Some young people in West Virginia aren’t spending the summer just playing video games. They’re learning how video games are developed and getting a taste of the gaming business.
“The ultimate goal for this camp is to get kids exposed to STEM learning,” said Patrick Stubblefield, game developer and instructor for the video game development camp being offered through Marshall University’s Center for Continuing Education.
The camp is open to students between the ages of 10 and 17.
Participants work in teams to create ideas for video games and develop video game concepts, based on those ideas, to present.
That presentation covers storyline, characters, gameplay and level descriptions, scoring and art and music.
“They’re learning, pretty much, how to work as a team, how to work in different teams, how to build stuff together, how to incorporate and deal with changes and news and everything else,” explained Stubblefield.
Also covered are the structure and workings of the video game industry like specialty areas the students could potentially pursue as careers.
“It’s really fun and it’s really unique too,” Stubblefield told MetroNews. “I try to make sure that it’s different every time the class is done. You don’t really come in and learn the same thing.”
The first session of the video game development camp wrapped up last week on Marshall’s Huntington campus.
A second session begins on July 10.
For more information, contact Emily McAllister, program coordinator, via e-mail at mccallist118@live.marshall.edu or go online HERE.