iD In The News

Ahwatukee Foothill News – June 26, 2008

ASU Offering Summer Game Design Classes

iD Tech Camp teaches how to develop programs, Web sites

By Travis Roemhild

Playing video games may not be the first option chosen by parents for how they want their kids to spend those hot summer days. However, a day camp hosted by Arizona State University can teach creativity by way of video game creation and design.

Located at the Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus in Mesa, the iD Tech Camp offers several classes specializing in 3-D game design, game modding, Web site design and programming to kids ages 10 to 17.

Participants have full access to professional design and creation of computer programs. They spend most of their time tweaking ideas with close guidance from four experienced counselors.

In the 3-D game design class, students use what is called FPS Creator to create “first person shooter” games that are similar to the popular Halo and Call of Duty series. In the program, kids produce levels from scratch and tweak preloaded character models to create their own unique computer game. Popular games are shown as examples to display what works and what can be expanded upon.

“We tell them that people have already built just about every concept imaginable,” said Ricky Bennett, director of the iD Tech Camp. “We tell them, ‘Let’s build on it, take it a step further.’”

Several Ahwatukee Foothills kids are attending the camp this week, including Aaron Madsen, 12, of Kyrene Akimel A-al Middle School and Connor Gutman, 10, from Horizon Community Learning Center. Aaron has spent his time at the camp building an “escape” game from scratch called Missile Defense and Connor is learning the ins-and-outs of Adobe Dreamweaver to create his own Web site.

“I wanted to make a fan page about this game I’m obsessed with,” Connor said. “It’s fun to create something that anyone can see.”

Bennett and the other instructors take the kids out during the day to play kickball and do other exercises as a break from staring at a computer monitor all day.

“We do a lot of fun stuff besides making video games,” Bennett said.

The camp started as one class 10 years ago and has expanded to 50 campuses nationwide.

“It’s obvious the owners want it to be the best computer camp,” Bennet said. “We want the kids to be creative but at the same time there are measurable standards for every class.”

At the end of the camp, each participant receives a disc with everything they have done for the week.

The weeklong camp comes with a price tag of $749, running Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; and Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Find out more about the program at www.internaldrive.com.

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