Nicholls State hosts a new generation of gamers

Are today’s top scorers the gaming industry’s big earners of tomorrow? A dozen hardcore gamers at the second annual Nicholls State University GameCamp! would argue the fact.

Nicholls’ Computer Science Department sponsored the weeklong camp the last week of July for students ages 10 to 17.

“The fact that a camp of this sort exists is a true testament to the desire that people have just to be in this industry,” said Dr. Kent White, who heads the department. “We want to show them just what’s out there, when it comes to making and selling your creation.”

GameCamp! founder Spencer Zuzulo created the camp experience as a natural offshoot of his day-to-day work. Zuzulo is managing partner of the Texas-based game development company Ninjaneering LLC. He began holding GameCamp! sessions after he’d participated in several conferences about how to break into gaming.

The camp has grown to include spring break and summer sessions in Austin, Texas, as well as Lafayette and Thibodaux.

“We take kids and put them in a position to understand what the industry is about,” White said. “They learn what sorts of positions are out there for them – like game design, programming and artistry – and how much money they can make in the industry.”

Over the course of the week, the students form groups to represent their own miniature game companies. In the mornings, Zuzulo teaches the theory behind video game design and production.

In the afternoon, the students, along with several collegiate gamers, put what they have learned into practice. By the end of the week, White said the students are able to pitch their mock game ideas to industry representatives like Baton Rouge’s Yatec LLC and Zuzulo’s Ninjaneering LLC.

Morgan City High School’s Matthew Fryou, 16, was a second-year camper. He loves participating in the camp because he gets to learn different aspects of gaming, which help him conquer the game.

“The thrill of winning a game and seeing what you can accomplish from level to level is something that I can’t get from other genres of entertainment,” Matthew said. “Gaming is soon to take over the leisure entertainment world.”

Eighteen-year-old Rohit Crasta, a graduate of Southside High School in Rockville Center, N.Y., is also a second year camper. He is already planning to attend Rochester Institute of Technology this fall, majoring in interactive media. From an early age, he discovered he enjoys making the games more than playing them.

“It’s fun to take part in the interactive process,” Crasta said. “I know that someone will enjoy the game that I make just like I have enjoyed the games made by other famous game developers, like Will Wright from Maxis in Atlanta, Ga., and John Carmack from id Software in Texas.”

The biggest asset to the camp is that students develop a track of study through school and into college. For example, students go to the basic camp and then the advanced camp. If they are old enough, they can intern at the camp. And once they have graduated from high school, if they have been to previous camps and they are qualified, GameCamp! hires them.

A very lucrative gig for the most talented students, first-year game developers can make up to $60,000 annually depending on the gaming specialty.

“The goal is that when they get through with college, they will have had two to six years of actual experience of meeting people in the industry, using the tools of the industry, learning what the standards are, learning the expectations of their actual job, and then working on real projects,” White said.

“We play a lot of video games here, but the camp gives them that experience and the exposure to that,” he added.

It’s not just fun and games, though. The camp staff sits down with students as they are playing games and walks them through the principles of whatever is going on in the game, White explained.

“It’s simply amazing to see how we can break down a game,” said John Nguyen, a senior computer science major at Nicholls.

Nguyen, a camp staffer, said he gained interest in gaming when it was considered “taboo” back in the mid-1980s before Nintendo made its NES (Nintendo Entertainment System).

Another camp staffer, Adam Starks, a junior at Michigan State University, is double majoring in computer science and interactive media. He said up-and-coming gamers like him are just what the game industry needs to become the new art form of entertainment.

“Gaming is in its early stages. The more mainstream gaming gets, the more people will begin to accept it as a safe version of entertainment,” Starks said.

Although GameCamp! has ended, White will host a free GameDay for students ages 10 to 17 in November. Students will play games all day.

White is looking to accommodate 200 students. For more information, contact him at (985) 448-4400.