VideoGame.Net and Penn State University team up for simple game-making (and playing) fun!THINK SPACE CAMP SOUNDS COOL? WELL WAIT UNTIL YOU CHECK OUT THE VIDEOGAME.NET EXPERIENCE HOSTED BY PENN STATE
Fun And Exciting Program That Teaches Kids And Adults How To Make Video Games
PHILADELPHIA, NOV 19, 2003 - VideoGame.Net and Penn State University announced today the VideoGame.Net Experience. A 13-week interactive education program focused on teaching kids and adults how to make videogames.
The VideoGame.Net Experience was conceived by Ed Fleming, President and Founder of VideoGame.Net, as an educational and entertaining program designed to help folks learn about the videogame industry and to help them make their own games. Started as a youth summer camp, the VideoGame.Net Experience has expanded into a year-round programs for both children and adults.
"The 2003 summer camp was very successful and attracted hundreds of gamers from across the country," said Ed Fleming. "The VideoGame.Net Experience concept gets people to understand what it takes to make videogames. To continue the success of the summer programs, we are teaming up with Penn State University to deliver the program again this fall, in a unique Saturday format."
The VideoGame.Net Experience provides gamers first-hand experience with the tools needed to develop videogames. The VideoGame.Net Experience fall program teaches gamers how to use Flash, Photoshop, Game Maker and other software for designing 2D-based games.
Penn State Great Valley and Penn State Delaware County will offer the VideoGame.Net Experience fall program. The schools will host an Introduction to 2D Game Design class for new students, and for returning gamers, they will offer an Intermediate 2D Game Design class. For kids in 6th through 12th grades the Introduction to 2D Games classes start December, 6 2003 and January 17, 2003, and run for 13 Saturdays. The adult version of Introduction to 2D Games starts in April 2004 and will run on Monday and Wednesday nights for seven weeks.
While in class gamers use the VideoGame.Net website as a one-stop-shop resource for all of their game development needs. The site provides game development tips, program templates, tutorials and Tribes - an online gaming community where budding developers can work with their friends to create some cool games. During the week, when the gamers are at home, they have access to the VideoGame.Net website where they can work on their games, chat with their gaming buddies or look up review information on anyone of 11,000 games published in the US since 1972.
Once participants in the VideoGame.Net Experience have completed a game they can have it posted on VideoGame.Net for anyone on the Internet to play. In addition to providing development services and game hosting, the VideoGame.Net website also provides gaming enthusiasts with scavenger hunts and contests, daily news, A.I. robots, and discussion boards.
"The fall program focuses on 2D game development and the history of game making," said David Kramer, VideoGame.Net's Director of Art Programs. "One of the other really cool parts of the program is our Arcade. We offer kids the chance to play some of the very best new and pre-released games as well as retro-classics for the old NES and even Atari. This gives the kids a well rounded idea of where videogames came from and where they are going."
In 2004, the VideoGame.Net Experience will be extended to additional colleges and universities. In addition to the new locations, the VideoGame.Net Experience will also extend its class offerings with an Advanced 2D Game Design program and an Introduction to 3D Game Design class. In 2005 and beyond, VideoGame.Net expects to offer additional 3D game classes, XGameStation design and even videogame journalism. "I really love where VideoGame.Net is going with the Experience program. The kids are having a blast and the parents really like it too," stated Ed Fleming, "I had one of the kids tell me that he and his father went to Space Camp(TM) and had a great time, but he said, the VideoGame.Net camp was an even cooler experience. That made my day!"
Topic: Summer Videogame Class Announced (Read 2104 times)
