Camp Overview

About This U & Maps

About Our Courses

Tours & Activities

Faculty & Instruction

Safety & Peace of Mind

Testimonials

FAQ

iD Gaming Academy at Emory University

iD Gaming Academy, Ages 13-18

TWO-WEEKS | CO-ED | RESIDENTIAL ONLY | TEEN ONLY
INTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT

Calling all teens…Got game? iD Gaming Academy, the leading summer technology program for teens in the U.S., gives students an immersive, pre-college experience in the dynamic world of game development. The two-week sleep away programs are held at elite universities and taught by faculty with proven video game development credentials. Highlights of the iD Gaming Academy:

• Discover 3D modeling, game programming and level design with industry-grade software
• Learn from elite faculty in small, personalized classes of just 8 students or fewer, guaranteed
• Tour a major game design studio
• Have a blast with our LAN gaming tournaments (not to infringe on instructional time)
• Graduate with an online portfolio (and receive an Official Transcript with Continuing Education Units (optional))
• Win GUNNAR Advanced Gaming Eyewear glasses at each session!

Students can no longer wait until college to start gaining necessary skills in the competitive field of game development. Start building your portfolio here and now. Go to Step 2 for course availability and dates.

Additional Tech Programs at Emory University

iD Tech Camps, Ages 7-17

WEEKLONG | CO-ED | DAY CAMPS | OVERNIGHT CAMPS
COURSE TOPICS: VIDEO GAME DESIGN, PROGRAMMING, APPS, WEB DESIGN, & MORE

We’re celebrating our 12th season as the premier summer computer camp in the Atlanta area. Our popular weeklong day camps and overnight camps at Emory University boast a maximum of 8 students per instructor (you won’t find Counselors-in-Training or online tutorials at iD) and customized curriculum for beginner to advanced learners. You can register for one or several weeks of our summer camps and experience life on the beautiful Emory campus! Live in the college dorms! Design a video game! Build a web site in Flash®, program a robot, make your own iPhone® Apps, edit your own video and more with the best brand name products from Adobe®, Apple®, Autodesk®, Microsoft® and beyond.

About Emory University

NOTE: Our specific location on campus at this Georgia summer camp, along with maps and driving directions, will be found in My Account after you register.

The state of Georgia is rapidly becoming an internationally recognized gaming hotspot. Both indie game studios and the largest independent game studio, Hi-Rez Studios of Alpharetta, GA, need top talent.

We have chosen the Emory University campus to host our intensive summer teen camps in Georgia because it is home to nine major academic divisions, numerous centers for advanced study, and a host of prestigious affiliated institutions. The iD Gaming Academy is a one-of-a-kind offering for students seeking to get better at the art and science of game development. The program is intended for high-school-aged students ages 13-18.

General Location: Located just 15 minutes from downtown Atlanta in the tree-lined suburban neighborhood of Druid Hills, Emory University is positioned along the Clifton Corridor. These are ideal summer camps for the area near Atlanta. The campus is within walking distance to a small university town center, with restaurants, coffee shops and other local attractions. Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport is located southwest of the city, approximately 25 minutes from Emory. We do not perform airport pick-ups, so if flying in, please make sure to make appropriate arrangements. Come check out our summer camps near Atlanta, Georgia!

Campus Life & Meals

As part of the full university experience, students will eat in university dining halls and sleep in real dorms. All meals are included.

Is Georgia a Gaming Hotspot?

The Georgia Game Developers Association intends to make the state of Georgia a nationally-recognized game development powerhouse. One of the ways the GGDA will accomplish this goal is to act as a liaison between local universities and the industry. The Atlanta area is already home to some well-recognized development houses including Hi-Rez Studios. Established in 1995, Hi-Rez Studios is the largest independent game development studio in Georgia. The studio is always looking for awesome game programmers. Lately, the company has been hiring for their next generation MMO game. Their studio is located in Alpharetta, GA. The iD Gaming Academy at Emory University seeks to act as a bridge between the high school, university and professional tracks. If you are interested in game design, you have to get started earlier and earlier in this competitive (and lucrative) field. The iD Gaming Academy is a vital stepping stone in the process.

About Our Courses

Students use industry-standard applications including Autodesk® Maya®, Adobe® Photoshop®, XNA® for the Xbox 360®, Unreal® Engine 3, StarCraft® ll: Wings of Liberty™, and of course some of the latest, most popular commercial video games for instructional purposes and serious game play. This game design camp for teens is taught by top-tier instructors with demonstrated game development skills. Course Details.

Our Courses:

iD Game Studios 101
3D Modeling & Animation with Autodesk® Maya®
Level Design – Unreal® Development Kit
Programming for the Xbox 360®
Game Development for iPhone® & Android™ with Unity

Continuing Education Credits

Continuing Education Credits at the iD Gaming Academy are available from Stanford Continuing Studies (SCS).  The credits will go on file at Stanford upon successful completion of a course at the iD Gaming Academy, and a transcript will be mailed out to the participant.  Continuing Studies offers a credit awarding transcript generation service to academic programs.

What are the benefits/objectives of awarding Continuing Education Credits?

• Encourage students to utilize educational resources to meet their personal and educational goals.
• Assist with pre-college advanced placement through proof of related work.
• Demonstrate that the student has completed course content with college-level difficulty.
• Enable individuals to have an accurate source of their current CEU activity with tracked proof of completion (Certified Certificate of Completion) by an accredited University program.

Note: CEUs are not transferable as college credit.

Tours & Activities

Note: We tour a real gaming studio, but studio venues may change without notice.

TOUR: To Be Determined

The iD Gaming Academy held at the Emory University will be taking an off-site excursion to a real game development studio. Check back soon for details.

Activities

Academy activities are as diverse as the teens who attend our programs. After each day's instruction, you'll take time out to socialize, relax, watch movies, play sports, catch up with friends on Facebook, or game in one of our nightly NVIDIA®-hosted gaming tournaments (with hot new titles like Team Fortress® 2). Some highlights from last summer include team-building activities, group game design challenges, human Tower Defense, kickball tournaments, trivia nights, bowling, Settlers of Catan, and more!

Stay the weekend within the session and you will also have the opportunity to tour local points of interest off campus!

Note: Students may be allowed to travel in groups within local boundaries, depending on the restrictions imposed by the university. Our supervising staff will remain in the vicinity to check in with students periodically. Academy students enjoy extra privileges appropriate for their environment and maturity levels. While we maintain standard supervision ratios, teens will feel a sense of freedom.

Gaming Tournaments at the iD Gaming Academy

What better way to learn how commercial games are created than to fire up the most cutting edge titles and play! LAN parties are a big part of what makes the iD Gaming Academy so immersive. With industry leading names like NVIDIA®, Team Fortress® 2, Portal™ 2, Unreal Tournament® 3, Counter-Strike®, Half-Life® 2, Left 4 Dead™ 2, and more, you know you are in for many incredible nights of ducking, dodging and fragging.

Our Computer Gaming Tournaments use some of the hottest and most recognized game titles on the market, and all students will have opportunities for gameplay with local tournaments. We use Valve® Steam® technology and NVIDIA GeForce® gaming cards for peak PC gaming performance. When we need to get out of our chairs for some console action, we’ll break out the Nintendo® Wii or Xbox 360®.

Gaming Tournaments are an exciting element of our teen activities, but do not replace or infringe on instructional time. NOTE: Games in our Gaming Tournaments are rated “T” for Teen and “M” for Mature and are selected at the sole discretion of iD Tech Camps staff.

Faculty & Instruction

The iD Gaming Academy fosters real game development skills, in addition to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) development. Students “learn by doing” through intensive, hands-on instruction. Our classes are small, ensuring personalized instruction and allowing students to move at their own pace.

Our instructors vary from year to year, but here are a few veteran faculty from our Emory teen camps:

• Roy: Roy graduated with honors from West Wood College Online with a B.S. in Game Art and Design.  He has taught at iD Gaming Academy as a Lead Instructor, and was recently promoted to Director.
• John: John is a 3D environment artist, level designer and game developer.  He has worked for professional game development studios including Hi-Rez studios, where he was an Environment Art Intern for their high-end MMO Global Agenda.  He is a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia with a B.A. in Interactive Design and Game Development.  While at SCAD, John  led several 3D game projects including a collaborative Augmented Reality project with the Georgia Institute of Technology.
• Cody: Cody is a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology in his 4th year of studying Game Design and Development.  He has worked on several projects developing games for Windows and the Xbox 360.  He works as a peer tutor at his university, teaching students in engaging 1-on-1 sessions about programming, mathematics and physics.  Cody is a returning instructor, and has prior experience teaching gaming programming at iD Gaming Academy at Lake Forest College.

Safety & Peace of Mind

Risk Management

Adult staff and instructors supervise all activities. iD has a policy of never using Counselors-in-Training (CITs).

American Camp Association^® Accreditation

iD Tech Camps is accredited by the ACA at multiple locations, meaning we have met over 300 health and safety requirements. All camps follow ACA guidelines.

Background Checks

We conduct criminal background checks, sexual offender background checks, multiple reference checks and identification checks on all summer staff.

CPR & First Aid

All camps have Directors and Staff that are CPR and First Aid Certified.

Testimonials From Emory University iD Gaming Academy

What Parents Are Saying

“This was an awesome camp for my son. The camp counselors were the best of all! Dominique S., parent, Emory iD Gaming Academy

“I felt my son was safe, and in willing and capable hands the entire time at camp. Leah N., parent, Emory iD Gaming Academy

“My son had an awesome time – his instructor was amazing and great at multitasking. I felt very comfortable with the staff and setting. Lori K., parent, Emory iD Gaming Academy

“The camp director provided excellent supervision and motivation for my boys. Sarah C., parent, Emory iD Gaming Academy

What Academy Students Are Saying

“Being a six year veteran of iD Tech Camps, my experience this year at iD Gaming Academy proved to be amazing as well. My time at the Academy really put me further in touch with career options in gaming. Patricia H., student, Emory iD Gaming Academy

“The staff is awesome! Everyone is nice and easy to talk to…good idea of putting this staff together. Andrew C., student, Emory iD Gaming Academy

“This was the most fun I have had in a long while. Da K., student, Emory iD Gaming Academy

“I had lots of fun at the iD Gaming Academy and am looking forward to returning next year. The instructors made the experience very enjoyable. Matthew P., student, Emory iD Gaming Academy

“All of the instructors and the camp director were wonderful and helpful. They made camp extremely fun and provided great guidance. Erby F., student, Emory iD Gaming Academy

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does this teen camp cost?
The cost for the two-week residential teen camp is US $3,499. Check our site for special promotions. Continuing Education Units are available from Stanford Continuing Studies, for an additional fee.  Age restrictions apply.  Weekend Stays are optional, but recommended, and cost $349 per weekend.  Most students choose to stay the weekend with us.

What are the dates of camp?
Our teen camps run throughout the summer.  Check Step 2 to see date availability for specific courses. You can also see what iD Tech Camps courses and dates are available at this location.

What courses are offered at this location?
Go to Step 2 to see Course Availability, Tuition & Dates.

How do I find out if the course I want is open for enrollment?
View real-time availability all courses by going to Step 2.

How do I register?
Go to Step 2 and choose your course, then continue along the steps.

What if the curriculum is too easy or too hard once my program starts?
Don’t worry – students learn at their own pace, and the curriculum is customized to fit each student’s skill and experience level.  Our instructors work closely with each student and adjust project specifications to be challenging yet fun.

Do I need to bring a computer to camp?
No, students do not need to bring personal computers to their session.  iD provides a computer for each student to use over the course of their program, along with all materials necessary for the course.

Do you offer any non-overnight programs?
Yes, other iD programs include weeklong iD Tech Camps with both day camp and overnight camp options.  iD Tech Camps courses are held at 60 universities nationwide, with topics ranging from iPhone® app development to video game design, website design and more.  The courses are divided up by age range, so you can still choose to have a teen-only experience if you wish.

What if I get sick or have summer school?
Balance payments, less the non-refundable deposit, are refundable up until 3 weeks prior to the start of a confirmed camp week/session. No refunds will be issued for cancellations or withdrawals within 3 weeks of the start of a confirmed camp week/session. All cancellations must be submitted in writing to the internalDrive Inc. office or online in My Account no later than 3 weeks prior to the start of camp. For more details, please see our Terms & Conditions.

Who should I contact with questions or concerns?
Contact our Client Services department at 1-888-709-TECH (8324) or 1-408-871-2227. You can also email us at info@internalDrive.com. And, if you’d like a brochure sent to you, please click the brochure link.

Course Tuition (Program options are found on the next step)