We’re holding our first class with Replay Games in downtown Fargo! We will hold a Beginner class that meets on Saturday mornings at 10:00 – 12:00 from September 8 – October 6. You can learn more about this class on our Facebook event page or  go straight to the registration page!

Now that our first Fall class is on the schedule, we have to look back over a very successful summer! So far, we have taught 108 students how to create video games in some capacity, from pixel art textures, to some difficult programming in making a custom level-up system in RPG Maker MV in our advanced class at College for Kids and Teens at MSUM.

We still have two summer classes left. Next week, starting on August 6th, we will have our last two Summer 2018 classes with the West Fargo Park District. In these classes, we will teach students how to make a town-building system and program some awesome minigames.

We look forward to an awesome Fall! Check for more classes with Replay Games and with Moorhead Community Education!

The PODS Game Design summer camps are going great! At this point, we have completed camps in Moorhead and in West Fargo. Next week, we travel to Frazee and Perham, Minnesota for our next camps! Check it out and see what the kids will make out of their games!

Our upcoming class schedule is as follows:

June 25 – 29: Frazee, MN & Perham, MN – Game Design Camp

July 9 – 13: Belcourt, ND – Scholastic Arts and Writings Award Workshop – Video Game Design!

July 16 – 19: Moorhead, MN – College for Kids and Teens – Beginner Game Design

July 23 – 26: Moorhead, MN – College for Kids and Teens – Advanced Game Design

July 30 – August 3: Breckenridge, MN – Game Design Camp

July 30 – August 3: Moorhead, MN – Advanced Class – Minigames

August 6 – 10: West Fargo, ND – Advanced Classes: Town-building Game and Minigames

More details and registration on our Class Schedule page!

In other news, we have posted the FIRST PODS Game Design tutorial! Our first tutorial is for an often-requested system found in the demo game, The Quest for the Bedazzled Mirror, the bank. While there are certainly less ninjas in the tutorial than in the demo game, it will still teach you how to build a basic banking system. Not only that, but there will certainly be more tutorials in the future to build on this system! Stay tuned for more!

We have new classes starting soon at Horizon Middle School! Check out the details below:

• Beginner: Horizon Middle School EAST starts March 19th.
• Beginner: Horizon Middle School WEST starts April 6th.
• Advanced (Mechanics & Formulas): Horizon Middle School EAST & WEST starts April 18th.

Not only that, but we have more classes in Moorhead starting this summer! Check out our SCHEDULE for more information, including links for registration!

We’re also THIS close to having our Summer Schedule finalized. More awesome information on the way!

Also, be sure to check out the article about PODS Game Design in the FM Extra here!

Also also, if you want to learn more about our classes and what we do, check out our new Beginner page here!

2018 is going to be a busy year for PODS Game Design. We are close to releasing our Spring and Summer class schedules, but we’ll let you in on a few of the highlights!

• We have a Beginner class, followed quickly by an Advanced class to keep the fun going, scheduled with the West Fargo Park District!
• We have two Beginner classes scheduled with Moorhead Community Education. First, we’ll be at Robert Asp elementary in January, followed by Dorothy Dodds elementary in February!
• We have a Beginner class scheduled with Kindred on Saturdays in February!
  • For registration information, please see our class schedule page.

We also plan to have classes with Fargo and the Perham-Frazee area Community Ed program!

If these classes weren’t enough, we plan to go camping this summer with an assortment of Video Game Design Camps held everywhere! Check back for more details!

We are pleased to announce that we are going to hold three classes with the West Fargo Park District over the upcoming Holiday Break. We will have one familiar and well-loved class, Donut Invaders, as well as two newly debuting classes: The Town Building Game using RPG Maker MV and Ocean Cleanup!

Town Building Game

“Can we fix it?” 

In the Town Building Game, students will create a game focused on building a single run-down shack into a thriving town by harvesting resources, purchasing in-game upgrades, and finding people to live in the newly-built houses. It’s a great addition to an existing project or could be developed into a game all in itself! Learn more here!

A newly developed game by PODS Game Design joins the lineup of our One-Day class games of Mouse Maze, Donut Invaders, and Destructo-Ball. In Ocean Cleanup, students take the wheel of a ship on the high seas to clean up all the trash. Collecting trash with your specialized ocean-nets will earn you money, but ramming the trash with your hull will damage it. Students will program all aspects of this class from start to finish, including the money mechanic, the trash collection mechanic, and all the other cool features!

One of the PODS Game Design favorites is back again! In Donut Invaders, students will wage war against the alien donuts from outer space that want to destroy the planet with their turbo sprinkle cannons (That’s why donuts have holes in the middle, right?). It’s up to you to hop into your laser cannon tank to blast them out of the sky! in this game, students will program all the mechanics of the game, including the donuts, the projectiles, and the laser cannon tank!

And no matter which class you take, you bring the game home when you’re done! We will provide each student with a CD to take home with their game on it!

Want to register? Check out the links below!

Special Project – Town Building Game – – – December 27, 28, 29 – – – – 8:30 – 12:00

Ocean Cleanup (NEW) – – – December 27 – 28 – – – – 12:30 – 2:30

Donut Invaders – – – December 27 – 28 – – – – 3:00 – 5:00

PODS Game Design has some new offerings for our video game design classes that we’re excited to share with you!

In West Fargo, we have classes starting on September 11th at the Veteran’s Memorial Arena! These classes will meet each Monday from 3:30 – 5:30. For more information on  specific start times, please see our schedule.

In Moorhead, we have classes starting on September 7th at Reinertsen, on October 12th at Ellen Hopkins, on January 11th at Robert Asp, and on February 15th at Dorothy Dobb. Each class will meet for five sessions, from 3:00 – 5:00. For more information, please see our schedule. Also, be sure to check out our Flyer!

Also in Moorhead, we have a Beginner level class for adults at Probstfield starting on October 5th at 6:00.  Be sure to check it out on our schedule!

Also, take a look at our options for MINECRAFT BIRTHDAY PARTIES with the West Fargo Park District!

We’ve got more classes coming up! Keep checking back for more!

We at PODS Game Design are pleased to announce that we will be leading a video game design workshop at NDSU in August! This workshop is for the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards and is available for students who will enter grades 7 – 12 this upcoming school year.

Click here to register!

The Details:

What?: A video game design workshop!

Where?: NDSU, Minard Hall 319

When?: August 14 to August 18, 9:00 – 4:00

Cost?: $175

Scholarships?: Yes (Check appropriate box on application)

How do I apply?: Click here!

Other questions? Contact Dave at podsgamedesign@gmail.com!

This game design workshop will be led by both Dave of PODS Game Design and the wonderful workshop leaders of the Red River Valley Writing Project at NDSU. The games created in this workshop are encouraged to be submitted to the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards contest. We are looking for unique stories and inspired story-tellers to weave their tales into a video game.

Each day, students will begin with a short writing prompt about their game to get their creative juices flowing. Then it’s off to the computers to build, program, and create! After a lunch at NDSU’s union, student will return for more video game creation. Throughout the day, we will discuss topics of plot, character development, and scene creation intermixed with some clever coding and programming to make it all work. The day ends with a final prompt to further develop ideas and discuss progress that been made.

We would love for you to join us! Applications will be accepted until August 1st. Apply here!

PODS Game Design is hosting a pop-up class at the Prairie Den this July! This is going to be a new class in which we develop a special project for your Role-Playing Games. The special project will be a town-building engine for your game.

Building a town with RPG Maker MV is not difficult. However, wouldn’t it be neat to have a town that grows from one derelict house to a bustling community, where the player chooses who lives in what house? And where the player has to find resources and pay a carpenter to build the new houses?

Check out the new Special Project page for more information and be sure to register today!

Our Summer 2017 class schedule is up! We are offering a variety of classes this summer.

In June, we are offering a Beginner RPG class in West Fargo. We are also offering an all-day Girls Only Beginner RPG class with College for Kids and Teens. In the middle of the month, we’re traveling to Breckenridge to teach Donut Invaders using Game Maker Studio. Then we’re traveling to Belcourt, ND again to participate in the Red River Valley Writing Project/Scholastic Creative Arts program to teach students to develop games with Game Maker Studio. Finally, at the end of June, we’re offering a new hybrid class – a Video Game Design Camp. This class will cover the Beginner class material, then dive into a variety of topics found in our PODSter classes. What exactly we will go over is up to the interest of the students!

In July, we start the month after the 4th of July with Mouse Maze in Detroit Lakes. After that, we have two weeks of College for Kids and Teens, an all-day Beginner class followed by an all-day Advanced class that will cover a multitude of topics found in our PODSter classes including Dungeons, Map Design, Plot, and Mechanics and Formulas! After that, we travel to Perham to offer a Beginner RPG class in the morning, followed by four sections of new hybrid classes with the Boys and Girls Club and Bright Futures! These hybrid classes will focus on specific topics including level design, scripting events, and creating animations!

At the end of July, moving into August, we have another Beginner RPG class in Fargo at the Robert D Johnson Rec Center. And to end the summer season, we have two classes with West Fargo, Destructo-Ball and Penguin Panic.

Stay tuned for more exciting announcements as the summer goes on!