NIU Summer Camps Will Teach Kids Video Game Design

Middle and high school students this summer can go to camp to learn how to design video games.

Northern Illinois University is offering video game design classes this summer. These one-week classes will focus on a specific game, design software, or tool and will teach the fundamentals of video game design.  Which can range from developing the game's story and/or characters, along with how to design the interface, sound effects, game objective, and rules.

While attending these camps students will be able to play video games, along with being asked to critically think about them.

For example, if they're learning about sound effects, they will be asked to pay attention to how the sound effects help the game they are playing. The same can be said for other aspects of video games, like their gameplay, animation, and graphics.

NIU is offering 7 camps that will each run for a week. They will be offered mid-June through early August. These camps are designed for students in grades five through nine.

These camps are:

• June 11 – Just for Girls! Video Game Design (Day Camp)
• June 18 – Minecraft and Video Game Design (Day Camp) 
• June 24 – STEM Video Games Camp (High School Residential Camp) 
• July 9 – Robotic Programming and Video Game Design (Day Camp) 
• July 16 – Python and PyGame Video Game Design (Day Camp)
• July 22 – STEM Video Games (Middle School Residential Camp)
• July 29 – STEM Careers Video Games Design (High School Residential Camp) 

The price for the day camps are $250 per week and it's $650 for the residential camps.

For more information or to register for these video game coding camps please go to https://dcl.niu.edu/gameDev/videogamecamps.shtml or call (815) 753-0673.