"I'm not a techy person, my mum signed me up. I love that here you combine creativity with technology. I really want to keep learning."
Alba, Young Minecraft Enthusiast
Video Game Design - Self-guided
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Video Game Design – Self-guided
Game design for computational thinking
Turn your enthusiasm for gaming into real-world tech skills! This course will provide you with the tools to create your own video games to play on the web or your smartphone.
Course highlights
MAKE your own games!
As one of our students said, why buy when you can make! Harness your enthusiasm for games to get building original projects using the foundations of computer science.
Learn through play
Learn how add your own characters, backgrounds, sound effects and more to your own custom game and then programme it all so you can jump, shoot and fly your way to victory.
Get started in coding
Students will finish this course understanding the key concepts for both games development and programming. This is a great foundation for syntax-based programming and is a great course to do before our Java or Python courses.
Featured FAQ
What are the course instructors like?
Programme Leaders have a strong background in education coupled with technical expertise in the area they teach. They are supported by Camp Tutors, who are most frequently talented Computer Science …
Programme Leaders have a strong background in education coupled with technical expertise in the area they teach. They are supported by Camp Tutors, who are most frequently talented Computer Science and Engineering students from the UK's leading universities.
All our instructors undergo in-person training from the Fire Tech team in the curriculum of the course they are teaching, in the Fire Tech mission and values, and in our Child Safety Policies. We select our instructors on technical expertise but also for great communication skills and a real passion for their subject.
Course Overview
Put your gaming experience and imagination into action, developing an original game that you can fully play and show to family and friends. This is a course for all abilities and ages.
The fundamentals covered in Video Game Design are a great first step into the world of coding. Students are introduced to object-oriented programming, and a behaviour-based logic system – applying behaviours and attributions, testing, debugging and fine-tuning products – that comprises a core component of computer science and is familiar to any programmer. This is a rich course and one of our most popular, and many kids take it more than once to take their skills even further.
We use Construct 3 ® to develop games that you can play on any platform. It is free software, which means you can download it at home to keep your games developing alive after your course has finished! Construct 3 ® makes it easy to get started, work with an impressive library of behaviours and attributes, and produce some great-looking final products.
This is an independent learning course, with a focus on project work. Students will work independently at their own pace through learning materials and assignments, and also have weekly live onscreen tutorials for sharing progress and problem-solving.
There are 5 weekly tutorials, lasting 1 hour each. These tutorials are led by an expert, fully DBS-checked instructor, and you will join a small group of other young learners online, working together in fun and interactive sessions. All sessions are monitored and recorded for safety.
What your child will learn
- Telling A Story: storyboarding and structuring your game
- Platform Basics: using the Construct 3 environment
- Graphics: graphic design and animation basics for your characters
- Control: applying behaviours and attributes to characters
- Testing: testing, de-bugging, perfecting your program
- That's a Wrap! Keep and share your game, access anywhere
Meet Sean
Sean studies Design Engineering at Imperial College London but you'll often find him buzzing around camp teaching our Video Game Design courses. He loves seeing campers push through challenges and publish a game to show their friends and family.
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