Game Design for Older Kids

Ever wondered what it takes to make a video game?

In this camp, campers will start with Breakout, bouncing a ball off a paddle to smash rows of bricks. Next they build an endless car game where the goal is to dodge traffic on a busy road. On day three they make an endless runner, where the player jumps between platforms and collects coins along the way. The camp finishes with a space shooter full of enemy ships, lasers and health bars.

Along the way, campers learn how games actually work: movement, collisions, scoring, lives, sound, and the small finishing touches that make a game feel fun to play. Behind the fun, there’s a lot of real learning going on. Every game is built from logic: if the ball hits a brick, the brick disappears; if the car crashes, the game ends. Working this way builds computational thinking, the same step-by-step reasoning that sits at the heart of coding and problem-solving.

There’s plenty of maths too, often without campers noticing. They use coordinates to place objects on the screen and variables to track scores and lives. Speed, angles and timing decide how a ball bounces or how quickly the traffic comes at you. Tweaking these numbers and seeing the result straight away turns abstract ideas into something they can see and play with.

Campers also learn to think like designers. They test their games, spot what isn’t working, fix bugs and try again, which builds patience and resilience. They also make their own choices about how their games look and play, so there’s lots of room for creativity. On the final day, everyone shows their games to the group, which gives campers a chance to explain their ideas, talk through the choices they made, and take pride in something they’ve built themselves.

Programs are designed to be unique each holiday season (summer, winter, and spring). Your child can enroll in the same camp multiple times and experience new activities and themes. Please note all camps are conducted in English.