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!"