This summer, two MSU IT staff members helped Michigan State University’s Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) Program give students a behind-the-scenes look at how video games are created. GATE provides accelerated hands-on summer learning experiences tailored for advanced and gifted students in elementary, middle, and high school.
Infrastructure Planning and Facilities (IPF) Federated IT staff members, Allen Scheck, a workstation support technician, and Joe Friend, a student employee, majoring in Games and Interactive Media, volunteered their expertise to teach two courses focused on design, coding, collaboration, and creative problem-solving. Their participation was supported by IPF IT as part of its commitment to educational outreach and helping students explore technology careers. Ric Bruce, IPF Unit IT manager, also taught a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) Careers course introducing students to technology related career paths.
Building Skills Through Game Design
Allen and Joe’s offerings included Introduction to Game Design in Minecraft for incoming fourth through sixth graders and Introduction to Game Design in Unity for incoming seventh and eighth graders. Together, they introduced over 300 students to game design fundamentals while encouraging them to break complex challenges into smaller problems and express their creativity.
In Minecraft, students used building, logic, and storytelling tools to create their own “Adventure Mode Dungeon” experiences. In Unity, older students explored professional game-development concepts such as C# programming, 3D modeling, and interactions between game objects. By the week’s end, many had built playable games.
Creativity in Action
Students continually found unexpected ways to expand on the tools and templates they received.
“The students were endlessly creative and came up with some incredible ideas,” Joe said.
One standout Unity project, Portal Jumper, challenged players to solve puzzles across two parallel worlds that switched whenever the player jumped, an inventive use of existing game components the instructors had not anticipated.
Testing and iteration were central to both courses. Students completed early versions, play-tested one another’s games, and used feedback to improve the quality of the final product.
Inspiring Future Innovators
GATE exposes students to topics they may not encounter in a traditional classroom and helps them build confidence to continue learning independently.
For Joe, the impact is personal: a similar high school game development program inspired him to pursue a degree in Games and Interactive Media and eventually work at MSU.
Allen and Joe said one of the most memorable moments was watching students test one another’s projects:“You can see the time and effort they poured into their games transform into excitement and joy as they share their creations with their peers.”
For some students, the courses may have been a memorable week of summer learning. For others, the experience may be the first step toward becoming a future Spartan, game developer, or technology professional.
