I don’t consider myself a computer tech person. I don’t know music well and I don’t play video games. I’m also not a great artist. However, I see the value of the digital media programs so much so that I decided to take Video Game Design 101V2 myself so that I could better articulate what students could accomplish. I found the sessions easy to understand. The creation of the video game was broken down into small tasks. I really enjoyed programming the game.

As a woman, I could never understand how people (males) could play video games for hours and hours until their wrists hurt. I still don’t. However, I did spend hours developing my game and redeveloping it. After I completed the course, I was intrigued enough to build on the game. I’d start working on it and before I knew it, four hours had flown by. I used what I had learned to change conditions to make the game more exciting. I also incorporated my own graphics and animations that I found on the web to enhance what I had already created. My V2 of the game is complete, but I still have things that I want to figure out and add.

I intend to implement as many of the YDACS courses as we can afford. I imagine that the boys will jump at the opportunity to program their own video games and compose their own music and I want to introduce the girls to something that they might not come to on their own. I’m sure that even some of the adults would be interested in learning how to create their own video games or music and sharing them with their friends. And, I see the seniors jumping at the chance to be artists by taking the digital painting class. I can’t wait to see how the participants will create their games using music they compose as accompaniment, digital paintings they create as backgrounds, and characters that they create and animate.

In addition to the project completed during the duration of the class, each participant will have to create and complete their own, new and unique project (video game, painting, and/ or music compositions).

For the future, I imagine how amazing it will be for a high school graduate to go to a college interview for the Media Arts with a portfolio of computer games, digital paintings, digital music, and animated characters that she has created. I can also imagine the micro-enterprise opportunities for the residents of our housing complex in selling their games, painting, and/ or music.

As you can see, I am very excited about all that YDACS has to offer. I look forward to taking the classes myself because they are fun and make me think in ways I wouldn’t otherwise. I look forward to offering the classes to our participants in order to make them think in ways that they wouldn’t otherwise and to give them opportunities to succeed at something they already love doing. The possibilities are endless!