Video game summer camp LaPixel celebrates 10 years of encouraging young designers

Video game summer camp LaPixel celebrates 10 years of encouraging young designers

SHREVEPORT - As LaPixel Academy celebrated its 10^th summer of existence at LSU Shreveport, director Allen Garcie said he's most proud of the growth participants experience as they collaborate to make their own video games.

Seventeen teenagers this year learned the basics of software like Photoshop and GameMaker Studio before forming gaming studios to design and create their own video games in the four-week summer camp in LSUS's digital arts computer lab.

Complete with main characters, storylines, villains and final bosses, more than 150 students over the course of the program's 10 years breathed life into their 2-D environments with characters and sprites that move and interact in roughly 45 video games.

Garcie said this year's Team Spirit award winner Om Ganapathy is a perfect example of how young people can build confidence in working with their peers. Ganapathy received the award in the program's closing ceremony on June 26. Participants presented their games to family and friends at the ceremony.

"Students are learning about storytelling and character design while also learning software like Photoshop and GameMaker in the first two weeks," said Garcie, an LSUS digital arts faculty member and director of the LaPixel Academy. "They begin to form their own game ideas, and the class votes on their favorites before we form game studios with designated roles to create the games.

"Om is a quiet guy, and even though his game idea was selected, he was very shy at first and let other people run the show a little bit. But at some point, this little switch flipped, and he started running the show. He'd ask his group members what they were working on and taking charge. It was amazing to see him turn into a leader of the group, and the way he communicated with his group really stood out. It's not just the software skills we want to focus on, we want to teach soft skills in creativity, communication and leadership."

Garcie explained that while instructors and program assistants direct learning through the first two weeks, the three-member game studios take the reigns in the final two weeks as they manage their time to create working games.

The staff picks the teams based on student input in terms of strengths (graphic design vs. character creation for example) before the student-led groups carry their project across the finish line.

"I wouldn't say we're totally hands off in the last two weeks, but it's really the teams working with each other and deciding how to best use their time," Garcie said. "We help keep them on track, but they get in their studio groups, and they run the show.

"The neatest aspect to me is seeing how they work together."

While the structure of program has remained similar over the past decade, artificial intelligence did make an appearance in 2025 before becoming a key tool this summer.

Garcie said ChatGPT emerged as a troubleshooting tool participants used effectively.

"For example, maybe they were having a problem in GameMaker, and ChatGPT would offer solutions based on their description of the problem," Garcie said. "Where in the past, students may come to me with this problem, now there are students jumping into ChatGPT to solve their own problems.

"ChatGPT isn't always correct because it's not physically in their game, but it's a tool that students can engage with that can show them the path to a solution."

Interested in signing up next year? Eligible students are aged 13-17 with at least a 2.5 GPA who submit a statement about why they'd like to participate in the video game design program. Students can apply at https://www.lapixelacademy.com, and candidates will be selected for participation from the applicant pool.

LaPixel Academy is sponsored by LaPREP and is offered at no cost to the participants. LaPREP is a free math and science summer enrichment program at LSUS that's funded by grants and generous sponsors.

Garcie would eventually love to expand LaPixel Academy to offer a second year to participants in which they return to improve their video games or perhaps start something new.

That would require additional funding.

"It's something participants always ask about us, and it's something we'd love to do," Garcie said. "I would love to see the program grow in that way."