News 8
SMU hosting Plano video game camp 
01:54 PM CDT on Friday, July 3, 2009
PLANO -- Jackson Wallach is a teenager from Austin attending summer camp in Plano, but his week won't be filled with bug bites and campfire songs.
Wallach is attending the SMU Guildhall Game Development Camp. Each camper's challenge is to create his or her own video game in two weeks.
His game revolves around a boy trying to rescue a circus.
"Billy, the little character who runs around, his father's circus is going to be closed down, Wallach explains. "So you hop around, and try to get to the end of the level to save the circus."
There's even a camper working on a game involving an attack of killer snails.
The camp's popularity is growing. Three summers ago, when it started, it only had nine participants. This summer, it has 80, and it's not just kids who are fans.
"I can remember him being in 7th grade, saying I want to be a video game designer, and I thought it was a joke," said Debbie Dupree, one of the camper's mothers. "But then, looking at the real career potential for this, it's amazing."
"Some parents and grandparents actually stayed in a hotel here so their grandkids could go to SMU Guildhall camp for two weeks," SMU Guildhall Executive Director Peter Raad said.
Campers and faculty voted Chris Buckner's creation the top game. He calls it "Reign of Zombies."
"Your character is trying to get away from all these zombies," he said. "It's very simple. It's the first thing that came to my mind."
As Bucker's prize Reign of Zombies will be featured on gamepro.com, which gets more than 6 million hits a month.
