Summer Springboard
Middle School Game Design
ON THE CAMPUS OF NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
CREATE, PLAY AND BUILD YOUR WORLD
THIS IS A ONE-WEEK PROGRAM WHERE YOU’LL FOCUS ON ONE COURSE FOR THE ENTIRE DURATION.
Middle School Game Design
- Learn how professional game designers build engaging, interactive experiences.
- Develop your own original game concept—from storyline and characters to levels and sound.
- Experiment with digital tools to create visuals, design levels, and enhance gameplay.
- Visit the NYU Game Center to see how game developers bring creative ideas to life.
- Collaborate in small teams to brainstorm, prototype, and refine your game idea.
- Present your final game concept in a professional-style pitch and showcase event.
Summer Springboard
Middle School Game Design
About This Course
Set in New York City, this commuter program gives students an inside look at the exciting world of game design and digital creativity. With a visit to the NYU Game Center, one of the nation’s leading hubs for game innovation, students will explore how storytelling, coding, art, and sound combine to create immersive, interactive worlds. They will also learn about New York City’s role in the gaming industry, where major titles like Grand Theft Auto IV, True Crime: New York City, and Spider-Man (PS4) have been developed, giving participants a unique perspective on how real-world games are created.
By blending creativity with technology, participants will discover how games influence entertainment, education, and culture and gain valuable insight into careers in game development, animation, design, and interactive media.
TOPICS YOU'LL EXPLORE
Hands-on Learning
Students work in teams to brainstorm, design, and present an original game idea. They’ll prepare a game design pitch deck featuring a title, story, characters, level or world design, and sound samples, all focused on what makes the game fun for players.
During the program, students explore how game design connects to careers in animation, digital art, storytelling, and software development. With a visit to the NYU Game Center, they’ll see firsthand how creative professionals build immersive, interactive experiences that entertain and inspire players worldwide.
RESOURCES
Course Infosheet
Click here to view or download the printable infosheet for this course.
Program Catalog
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Campus Page
Click here to view the website page for this campus and learn more.
“It was great here. Almost everything was perfect and I genuinely feel that I gained something from this. I finally know what I want to do in life and want to work hard for it. “
– Malcolm C. | SSB Alumni Student
Summer Springboard
Middle School Game Design
Meet Your Instructor
Dr. Gizem Kayar holds an MSc and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany. She later worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow with the MIT Geonumerics Group. With over 15 years of experience in Computer Graphics, Dr. Kayar’s research focuses on physics-based modeling and simulation systems. As a faculty member in the Computer Science departments of several renowned universities, she also directed graduate programs in Interactive Computing Technologies and Digital Game Design & Technologies. Additionally, she served as the technical lead for the TEDU-TOGED Digital Game Development Certificate Program, which trained industry-standard experts in both design and programming. Dr. Kayar founded and led the MSKU Digital Game-Based Learning and Serious Games Lab, where she further explored her passion for serious games, particularly in the health tech sector. She has been teaching Game Programming for the past eight years and is currently a Clinical Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at NYU. Throughout her career, Dr. Kayar has published over 20 peer-reviewed publications, supervised numerous theses, and received multiple research grants in the fields of Computer Graphics, Simulation Systems, and Game Development.
DR. GIZEM KAYAR
Summer Springboard
Middle School Game Design
Dates & Tuition
| 2026 Dates |
|---|
| Session 1: June 22 – June 26, 2026 |
| Session 2: June 29 – July 3, 2026 |
| Session 3: July 6 – July 10, 2026 |
Click here to enroll in this course using our online enrollment form.
| Tuition |
|---|
| Commuter Tuition: $1,798 |
Apply by November 30 to lock in the lowest prices of the year. Tuition increases on December 1.
Tuition Protection Plan: Allows for cancellation for any reason up until the day of the program.
| Location |
|---|
| City: New York City |
| State: New York |
| Campus: NYU |
Summer Springboard programs are not run by our campus partners (with the exception of Cal Poly, UW Foster and NYSID which are run in partnership with SSB). Universities and their affiliated departments and partners do not control and are not responsible or liable in any manner for any part of the Summer Springboard program.