MEMBER EXCHANGE: Camp shows kids video game design
Huddled around a specially built computer last month, three video-game designers found themselves at odds over where Duckman should head next.
A battle for creative control ensued.
"The third boss can be a demon dog!" argued 13-year-old Jack Wells, of Hilliard.
"No way," said 12-year-old Alan Grinberg, of New Albany. "This game is way too hard for three bosses."
"Well, I beat it," boasted a grinning Wells. "Then again, I’m the ultimate gamer."
A work in progress, the game pitted an anthropomorphic, laser-gun-toting mallard against a lightning-tossing demon. Other proposed enemies included a potato creature that shoots radioactive french fries from its arms.
The trio, including 13-year-old Brian Poland, of Westerville, was honing Duckman on day four of Game Camp USA, a traveling program for kids ages 10 to 17 that teaches game-design basics.
The two-week summer camp _ in Columbus for the first time since it hit the road in 2006 _ will stop in six cities in the Midwest and East by August’s end.
The first-week session here sold out its 16 spots at the Homewood Suites in Columbus _ a first for a newly added city.
"We’re trying to figure out why, so we can do it everywhere," said program director Steve Deyesso, a former high-school math teacher who helped form camp operator Convergenesis Inc. in Nashua, N.H.
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