National High School Game Academy

Students will learn interactive digital game development through hands on experience and exposure to the breadth of knowledge and disciplines needed to be part of this new and exciting field. By using game development tools students will gain experiences in programming, visual design, and storytelling. Based on this exciting summer experience, students will be encouraged to pursue undergraduate studies in software engineering, design, creative writing or dramatic arts while having a clear understanding of how their undergraduate education can lead to a career in the interactive digital media field.
 

Video Games . . . no longer just appealing to young people, now provide entertainment for all age groups, simulations and training tools for business and opportunities for interactive learning at all levels of education. Video gaming has developed into an industry surpassing the traditional Hollywood box office in gross income and now provides thousands of jobs for animators, designers, computer programmers, storytellers, and others. There is seemingly no limit to the economic potential or application of video gaming and interactive media.

Initiated in 1997, the Entertainment Technology Center has establishing itself as the premiere center for interactive entertainment education in America. The Entertainment Technology Center prides itself on bringing together instructors from the domain of the “right brain” (the drama, art, design, music and architecture) and the “left brain” (computer science, entertainment engineering, and human-computer interaction) to develop the next generation of interactive entertainment professionals. In fact, the New York Times declared, “Only Carnegie Mellon seems to have bridged the right-brain, left-brain divide.”