As appeared in the Suburban Journals – What I did on my summer vacation: create video games

July 11th, 2011 by: Elise

July 11, 2011

By Mary Shapiro

Nearly 30 local kids sat, mouses clicking furiously and heads bent toward screens, in front of computers on a recent Wednesday afternoon.

They weren’t playing video games.

They were learning how to create programs and design for those games and other projects.

They honed their knowledge of new technology at one of a series of week-long iD Tech Camps being held this summer on the campus of Washington University.

The camps are offered by the firm internalDrive, based in California, at Washington University and more than 60 other sites nationwide.

Students from 7 to 17 learn to see how computer programs are used to create the video games they play, said Tanna Orgeron, director of the Washington University camp.

The company leases rooms in various college campuses. In the case of Washington University, the company has offered courses there for more than five years.

The courses, from beginner to advanced cover topics that range from role playing game design to programming languages to robotics to arcade game creation. Courses cost $600 to $900 depending on the particular class taken and its length, with some extended day and overnight sessions offered.

We asked some of the students to describe to older, tech-challenged folks, in terms their grandmothers would understand, what they’re working on.

Rose Livingston, 16, a Webster Groves resident, who will be a junior at Cor Jesu Academy.

“I’m working to write the execution file, the coding program, for a money converter chart. With it, you can put in the amount you have in U.S. dollars and be able to see the amount you’d get in other currencies like pesos or euros or zlotys, which is Polish money. I’m having a little difficulty with it right now, because it’s not outputting exactly what I want. But I’ll crack it, though it might take a little time. This program helps people who don’t want to do math.”

Elias McClendon, 17, a Florissant resident, who will be a junior at Hazelwood West High School.

“I’m working on a first person shooter level, which is part of a shooting video game where you play as if the camera were in your head, like you’re that shooter character. Each character, which is created with some preset controls, has a gun, which you can make move and shoot by using arrow keys, a space bar and left clicking on the mouse. So far, I’ve been creating a vehicle death match on that level, in a large area with a bunch of mountains. And I also plan to build a giant highway with vehicles driving to and from it, with bridges leading to the center of where the fighting will be. You need to create each part section by section, using a paintbrush tool for terrain. With the computer tool, you click and hold it to raise the level of the land to make a mountain peak. The hardest part is to get everything in the game to run smoothly, which can take an hour for each part, so I constantly play test everything. It’s a long process, just to make one level of a game. Just imagine how much time it takes to create a whole game! It seems so easy when you’re just playing.”

Omar Jawaid, 13, a Chesterfield resident, who will be an eighth-grader at Parkway Central Middle School.

“I’m making mods, which are extra levels and added on stuff, for a level of a role playing game. In that, you build different characters and decide what weapons they’ll have. For instance, you can change the race or class of character, like making someone a priest or warrior, and decide what your character does and what weapons they have while they’re going on a quest. For instance, a warrior can use a long sword and a shield and a ranger or archer can use bows and arrows. Wizards and sorcerers can use spells and quarterstaves and wands. Most RPGs (role playing games) have one overall quest and other side quests, to make the characters stronger. And all these steps take different programming. Adding too many effects can cause the game you’re making to crash. For instance, part of what I’m doing is having people enter a plundered village I’m making with a lot of fire and bloodstains. If you add too many of those effects, it causes the computer to crash. Also, you need to do baking, which is making all these effects and changes playable on the computer. The village, for instance, takes a lot of time to bake. And the more you add, the longer the game level becomes. It can be hard to find the cut off point to end one level and continue on with the game’s story to other levels.”

Brandon Brouk, 14, an incoming freshman at Westminster Christian Academy, who lives in the Ballwin area.

“I’m creating a character in a role playing game and also working on terrain for the game. I’m using a program called Neverwinter Nights 2 that lets you use buttons to select how you can edit and shape terrain, to raise and lower it and add texture and color to it. There are a lot of bugs to work out. For instance, sometimes the ground you’re working on just disappears and turns blue. I’m trying to fit as much in this game level as I can without the program slowing down. The great thing here at camp is, whenever you get stuck on something, you can ask a person next to you about what they think can help.”

Matteo Gerardo, 14, an incoming freshman at Parkway Central High School, who lives in Chesterfield.

“I’m making a map for a game called Unreal. There is a field with two bases with vehicles and weapons. There are many jump pads, where you’re able to jump to other platforms. I’m using a program called UDK, which is an Unreal Development Kit, a development framework with computer tools to create the game. You use a lot of mostly geometry, like developing cones and cubes into making these platforms where characters stand in the game. For instance, to make a tunnel, you make a big cube and shape it into the tunnel.”

Click here to read the article in the Suburban Journals.

July 11th, 2011

Posted in: iD In The News, Lake Forest College, Vanderbilt University, Washington University

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