About

The NYU Tisch Summer High School Game Design Program is a four-week residential immersive summer experience offered through the NYU Game Center and Tisch School of the Arts. Designed for motivated high-school students with a strong creative and technical interest in digital game development, the program integrates three core college-level courses: Game Literacy, Game Design Workshop, and Game Development Workshop. Participants live in NYU residence halls, collaborate in interdisciplinary teams, and work on game prototypes from conceptualization through playable builds. The curriculum spans programming basics, game engines, visual design, sound design, narrative, team workflow, and critical literacy about games as cultural forms.

Admissions to the program are selective. Applicants typically submit academic transcripts, a personal statement, and a creative work sample. Although the program does not publish formal admission statistics, the high tuition cost, credit-bearing structure, and intensive four-week schedule contribute to a rigorous selection environment. Financial-aid scholarships are available for a limited number of students demonstrating need.

During the four weeks, students engage in daily studio- and lecture-based classes, project time, and peer collaboration. The Game Literacy course fosters analytical awareness of game culture, platforms, and mechanics. In the Game Design Workshop, students begin by creating non-digital prototypes, focus on the interplay of rules and play, and iterate on design. In the Game Development Workshop, students receive instruction in programming fundamentals, engine workflows, collaborative production, and complete a team project with a playable game.

Evening activities, studio events, and campus-wide showings provide additional community, and the experience mirrors aspects of undergraduate game-design training while delivering a portfolio-building outcome.
For students aiming for creative technical pathways—such as game design majors, interactive media, computer science with creative focus, or digital storytelling—the NYU Tisch Game Design Program might be ideal. The academic credit, professional faculty, and a full residential studio environment make it one of the best pre-college game-design offerings available.