Keoni Burrow demonstrates a beta version of his video game, “Ruff Day,” which stars a Shiba Inu as a resort security guard.
Sara Dowling | NNG
Greenwave Games will host two gaming-related summer camp classes for youth in 4th-12th grades July 22-26 at the Churchill County High School vocational building, room V-11.
The cost is $100 per course, and proceeds will go towards equipment and software upgrades for the gaming design classes run by CCHS instructor Aaron Holt.
Esports camp will meet 9 a.m.-1 p.m. each day. Campers will play against high school esports competitors using Blizzard, Riot, Epic and Nintendo and learn about earning scholarships through tournament play.
Game development camp will meet 2-6 p.m. each day. Campers will learn to use Blender and Unreal Engine 5 to program and create assets for their own games.
Holt said he works hard to create a fun and supportive classroom for the game development and esports students during the school year. He often follows their lead, helping with resources and information as needed.
Holt’s game design students form teams, or “companies,” and each member is responsible for different aspects of the project such as character and background design, coding or marketing. Game trailers and behind-the-scenes videos are uploaded on the “Greenwave Games” YouTube channel.
Informal events are held a few times a year where the community is invited to play the games and give constructive feedback. As part of their final projects release party in May, students brought in props to set up sections of the classroom to look like their game's environment. Window painter Scot Campbell, student Keoni Burrows’ grandfather, also created a surprise collage on the classroom windows using the characters featured in the games.
Jorden Mardis and Lane Worth have been working on their game, “No Return (Again),” for two years.
“You are a survivor on a ship and you are trying to fix the ship because there is an alien on board that is causing damage,” Mardis said. “You’re trying to escape.”
The two learned what worked and what didn’t with the first version they built last year and they continued adding improvements in this year’s sequel. For example, they originally started with a 2D game but quickly realized it would look better in 3D. Both students work on the planning and script development. Mardis handles importing the assets, marketing and the artistic side of the project while Worth does the programming for things like door movement and the monster’s “jump scares.”
Burrow said his video game, “Ruff Day,” is his first project. The player roams through an abandoned resort as a Shiba Inu security guard named “Cinnamon.” The game will eventually have more levels within the resort and inside a metro station.
“This is my dream project,” Burrow said. “I want to make sequels for it.”
Class of 2024 senior Peter Cann, on the other hand, has tried coding and decided he wasn’t interested in game design. He does, however, enjoy creating stop animations and playing video games. He won a $5,000 scholarship in the PlayVS esports Pacific Northwest Region Championship as a member of CCHS team Mario Kart 8.
Leigh Nash likes to visit the gaming classroom to watch her son’s Mario Kart tournaments on the spectator screen.
“It looks like ‘just’ video games, but there’s a lot involved,” she said.
She feels that Cann has learned strategy skills, patience, problem solving, goal setting and team building while playing the games. She said he also likes to make the games glitch.
“One of his favorite things is to play video games and figure out how to break them and find things that go weird,” Nash said.
For information and camp registration email holta@churchillcsd.com.