Video game camp at WSU

Last week, twenty-seven local high school students gathered at Weber State University for a video gaming camp. The students paid $10 each to attend. The participants learned how to write PC games. Guest speaker John Blackburn, CEO of Avalanche Software, talked to the students about how to become successful in creating games and gave pointers on how to get a job in the field.

The students used a program called "Game Maker" to create their own computer video games without having to use the complex programming languages of C++ or Java. "Game Maker" comes with its own built-in programming language, called "Game Maker" Language, for more experienced users who want to expand features and further customize their game. The "Game Maker" program simplifies the coding and uses a drag and drop feature to create the game. There's also a library of animations to choose from rather than having to create completely new ones from scratch.

All of the participants received a book called, "The Game Maker's Apprentice" which gives tutorials for the "Game Maker" program.

Participants Stephen Rippon and his team created a game called, "Pirate's Brawl." It's a multiplayer game in which the player shoots at the opponents in an attempt to be the first to get 50 kills. The game has a similar in-game character movement system to the Xbox 360 game "Geometry Wars." The participants at the gaming camp designed "Pirates Brawl" to offer two different modes of game play - Death Match and Team Death. When playing in the Death Match mode, everyone tries to kill everyone, but in Team Death mode there are two teams that try to kill each other off. Players could get hit five times before dying, and the more hits the player received, the more their boat would smoke.

"The camp was really fun and really informative," Rippon said.

Camp attendees Colton Visser and Brice Fisher created a game called, "The Haunted Maze of Scariness." The player needs to get through the maze without getting killed by the scary monsters inhabiting the maze.

"No one can beat our game," Visser said. "We can't even beat it."

Visser and Fisher even created cheat codes for their game. They said it was definitely worth the $10.