Young girls who are looking to become game developers later in life have the chance to do so – through a summer camp ! During three weeks, Girls Make Games helps girls from ages 11 to 14 participate in workshops and game jams in order to learn all the basics of developing a video game.
Girls Make Games was created by Laila Shabir, CEO and co-founder of LearnDistrict, a studio that develops educational games. The idea came to her through a personal bad experience: she was looking for a female game developer, but she never found one. Although almost 50% of gamers are girls today, only about 11% of women work in game development.
The summer camp lasts over a 3 week period and is international (over 20 camps for this summer). During their time in this camp, young girls learn about game design, programming, artistic details and how to gain an entrepreneurial spirit. The girls will learn to work under pressure as they will be in competition with each other the entire time. At the end of the three weeks, they will present their game concept to a jury who will then determine a winner.
Winners determined at the end of Girls Make Games get the chance to have their game developed by LearnDistrict. Last year, “The Negatives” from Mountain View Camp won and raised over $31,000 for their game, The Hole Story!, on Kickstarter.
Supported by WWE
AJ Brooks (recently retired from the WWE), avid gamer herself, is collaborating with Girls Make Games. She is offering the chance to enter the Chicago, IL camp. In order to participate, young girls need to send a one minute long video presenting their game idea that they will work on at the camp.
For more information, rendez-vous on AJ-Brooks.com.
