Weber State University’s Department of Computer Science completed a weeklong game development camp (June 16-20). High School students and recent graduates received instruction and practical experience in the process of video game development.

Participants received a licensed copy of “Game Maker 7”, a popular game development tool and a book on the software. They experienced multiple presentations on aspects of Game Maker and game development, including a presentation from WSU alumnus John Blackburn, who earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science and went on to become CEO of Avalanche Software, a video game developer studio he helped found, which was subsequently acquired by Disney.

Participants were divided into five teams and each team was given the charge to develop a video game in just over three days. Using the Game Maker tool each team, each team created an original game. At the end of the last day of the camp, participants evaluated each other’s games and awards were given to those that rated the highest. Links to a zip files containing the game program are given below. The games can be extracted from the zip and played on any Windows-based computer.

Teams and Games from the 2008 WSU CS Summer Games Camp.
(links will be enabled soon...)