Carnegie Mellon University - NHSGA

Jesse

  • Posts: 102
This summer, I'm studying at Carnegie Mellon University to take part in their National High School Game Academy. So far, it's a really neat program, and I'm really excited to learn some more in depth topics in game design and programming.

My classes are from 9:00 to 5:00 every Monday through Friday. We have a two hour game design lecture, an art / 3D Modelling class, and then we spend the rest of the time working with programming / labs.

Some of the tools we're using are Game Maker 8 for the design projects, and then Unity for the programming projects. They've actually mentioned Game Salad as well- apparently some CMU graduates helped to make that.

The NHSGA program is in this fantastic building off of campus called the ETC. The ETC is home to these huge gaming rooms with all sorts of machines you can make games for. One is called the Cave, which is a 270 degree screen with all sorts of neat features such as a rumbling floor. There's also the Bridge, which is a huge sci-fi looking bridge with three awesome touch screen panels you can play with.

The entire building is covered with game concept art and rare video game collectibles. There's even an entire history of the video game industry portrayed in a timeline across this one hall. It's really fantastic, I'll be sure to take pictures.

I'm really excited about this program and I can't wait to see what I can take from it. I'm sure this will be a great learning experience, and I highly recommend the college to anyone interested in pursuing game design as a career.