Imagine sitting in your room, controller in hand, playing the latest video game. Do you wonder where the game originated from or how it was created? West students in Video Game Design are able to practice the skills necessary to create a video game.

“Video Game Design is a very laid-back class that is mostly project-based,” Video Game Design teacher Kelley Wonsmos said. “We build a lot of games and use logic-based theory.”

A career as a video game designer requires a passion for video games, strong problem solving skills and an efficient work style.

“I wanted to take this class because of my love for video games,” junior Auveed Saki said. “I also wanted to learn how to program.”

Many students find this class interesting because of the video games they design and the skills learned over the course of the semester.

“I took this class because I wanted to know what went into designing a video game, as well as learn about the pay and salary that comes with the job,” senior Patrick Abakanowicz said.                               This class has other subjects students will need to become familiar with, including physics, various levels of math and computer programming.

“I think this class will help me for my future by telling me how to structure the game and how to program the game overall,” Saki said.

Designing the perfect video game requires rigorous steps and planning, but practice makes the process simpler.

“At the end of the year, students get to build their own game from scratch, coming up with their own idea,” Wonsmos said.

The end-of-the-year project gives the students a way to showcase what they have learned from the beginning of the semester.

“This class will give you the basic fundamentals that you would need as a video game designer and it tells you what you should be expecting in the future,”Abakanowicz said.