Virtual Game & Technology Academy Courses

Students who participate in Game Programming with Unity and C# have the opportunity to explore game design, write C# scripts to create desired game mechanics, and publish their own game—all from home. Participants expand their knowledge of game design and development and gain tangible skills as they learn the game programming necessary to enable desired object and character behaviors in both 2D and 3D worlds. Through a combination of over 80 hours' worth of self-paced instruction, hands-on project work, and interactive tutorials designed by leading gaming gurus at George Mason University, students immerse themselves in the game design experience! 

Note: This course is meant for at-home, self-paced study via an online platform. Internet access is required. Login credentials will be sent via email. 

Participants in Machine Learning/AI with Python have the opportunity to explore the newest sub-field of computer science, AI—which provides movie and music recommendations for you based on previous selections, enables a Tesla to self-drive and steer you home autonomously, and allows an iRobot vacuum cleaner to self-map your house—at home. Students learn the Python programming language from scratch utilizing a range of open-source Python data-analysis and machine-learning tools, modules, and libraries. Through a combination of over 80 hours' worth of self-paced instruction, hands-on project work, and interactive tutorials designed by leading faculty at George Mason University, participants gain tangible skills while being immersed in AI! 

Note: This course is meant for at-home, self-paced study via an online platform. Internet access is required. Login credentials will be sent via email. 

Game Design with Roblox participants have the unique opportunity to explore game design, build multiplayer worlds, and publish a game of your very own from home! Students gain tangible skills as they learn to create their own game on the Roblox platform using a base template (Platformer, Racer, or RPG) and the Lua programming language. Through a combination of self-paced instruction, hands-on project work, and interactive tutorials designed by leading gaming gurus at George Mason University, students are fully immersed in the game-design experience. 

Prerequisites: The program is designed for students of all levels, including elementary and middle school students. Program participants should be reasonably proficient with a keyboard and mouse as this course requires some typing. Each student should also have a Roblox account before beginning the class. Create an account for your student here: roblox.com. You can find more information about Lua coding here: lua.org/about.html. 

Note: This course is meant for at-home, self-paced study via an online platform. Internet access is required. Login credentials will be sent via email.