East Syracuse, NY -- East Syracuse Minoa High School senior Justin Miller said he really likes the feeling of power and control he gets when designing his own video game. “I like that I can actually control objects and move them to where I want them to be,” he said. “It’s like I’m the god of this virtual world,...
View full sizeEast Syracuse-Minoa High School teacher Mary Beth Spicer leads an exercise with students in her new video game design class at the high school. East Syracuse, NY -- East Syracuse Minoa High School senior Justin Miller said he really likes the feeling of power and control he gets when designing his own video game.
“I like that I can actually control objects and move them to where I want them to be,” he said. “It’s like I’m the god of this virtual world, the creator.”
Miller is among 14 ESM students — all but two are seniors — enrolled in a new elective that teaches kids how to design their own video games using object-oriented programming.
“Game Design” is taught by business teacher Mary Beth Spicer, who proposed the course after conducting a student survey on video games. She learned many of her students spend at least three hours and up to 18 hours a day in the summer playing video games. More than 100 said they were interested in learning about the industry and how to build games. Web design is the only prerequisite course.
The video game industry has grown from $29 billion in 2005 to an expected $44 billion in 2011, according to DFC Intelligence, a videogame market research firm.
In the class, students learn the history of the gaming industry, laws affecting it, trends and career options. “We’ll also learn the social aspects of gaming and how it’s become a whole pop culture,” Spicer said.
Students also will study what makes an effective game, and then design and test their own game.
Spicer said some girls indicated interest when she conducted the survey, but none signed up. She hopes that will change.
View full sizeEast Syracuse-Minoa High School senior Kyle Abert, 17, works on a project during the school's new video game design course. One of the challenges is that many of the kids like to play shooting games and that’s not permitted in the class. No violence and no pornography are allowed.
Marcellus High School was the first in the area to offer a video game design class several years ago.
What’s different about ESM’s class is that students don’t have to learn to write programming or code to develop the games. Instead it uses a free program from Carnegie Mellon University known as Alice, an educational software that teaches students computer programming in a three-dimensional environment. It uses 3D graphics and a drag-and-drop method to make programming a game simple.
“We chose it because students with little or no computer experience can learn to program objects,” Spicer said. “You pick an object, such as an ice skater from a gallery and then you can add people and create events around it simply by clicking and dragging. The code is already written.”
Students can look at the code if they choose, but it’s not necessary.
Spicer said research shows playing video games can alleviate stress for kids, help them problem solve and improve their cognitive thinking. They’re also a lot of fun. Senior Kyle Abert likes adventure, shooting and puzzle games and has played for years. With the Alice software, he programmed his wizard object to flail its arms and legs in an infinite loop by stringing together a series of commands.
“I really like the graphics and the music in video games,” said Abert, who is considering game design as a career option. “Music is a very important part of the game, because it keeps you playing if there’s good music.”
Senior Jullen Merrill said he was surprised when his school offered the course. “I’m interested in this as a hobby, so I can get the ability to make the perfect game for myself,” he said. “I think a really good game is one with a good story that makes me want to play it over and over again.”
Miller said he’s been playing games since he first had a Sega Genesis at age 5. “I want to learn how to make a game and then I’ll see if it’s something I want to go into,” he said.
Elizabeth Doran can be reached at edoran@syracuse.com or 470-3012.