The National High School Game Academy (NHSGA) allows disciplined, passionate, and dedicated high school students to experience video game development using current industry best practices. Sharing methods and paradigms used in Carnegie Mellon's Masters of Entertainment Technology (M.E.T.) graduate program, the NHSGA focuses on an innovative blend of hands-on team projects combined with in-depth traditional lectures and discussions. In this program, students will create an original game prototype from pitch to final ship. Students will be encouraged to expand their own creative possibilities in a unique blend of left- and right-brain college-level work. Every student accepted to the program can expect to contribute to every area of development while maintaining their faculty-defined role on a multidisciplinary team. In Weeks 1-2, students attend classes that teach best practices and core skills needed in game development. Every student takes classes in the following disciplines: 2D and 3D art, software development, music composition, audio fx, game design, production, team management, and interactive narrative. All students receive in-depth instruction in all areas and will be ready to perform any role on the team to which they are assigned. These roles are assigned by the faculty based on the student’s demonstrated skill levels in their classwork. In Weeks 3-6, students are divided into teams. No student is guaranteed any specific role on any team. Each team is made up of two programmers, two visual artists, and one composer/audio designer. By the end of the program, the student will have been assigned to two different teams and will have participated in building two different games. This program is a rigorous and demanding six-week experience. Full participation from the first day of orientation (the Sunday before the start of class) through the final presentations (on Friday, the last day of class) is mandatory. NHSGA encourages students interested in any of the following to apply: - VISUAL ARTS - MUSIC and AUDIO - GAME DESIGN - SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT Prior experience in these areas is helpful but not necessary.