About

The UCLA Game Lab Summer Institute is a three-week program for high school students that introduces game-making as an artistic and technical practice, taught by the UCLA Game Lab and Design | Media Arts (DMA) community. Students explore game design, character animation, world building, and game programming through project-based instruction, creating finished analog and digital game artifacts exhibited in a final showcase. Enrollment for 2026 opens on February 18 via the UCLA Summer Sessions portal; spaces are capacity-limited and fill quickly. The institute offers two distinct tracks: a Residential Program on the UCLA campus (Session A3: June 21 – July 8) and a Live-Virtual Program(Session B3: July 13 – July 30). All participants who complete the institute earn four units of Pass/No Pass UC college credit, with no prior coding or design experience required.

Instruction is led by UCLA Game Lab practitioners and alumni who guide students through a curriculum aligned with four foundational pillars: Game Design (mechanics and play), Character Animation(movement and personality), World Building (3D environments), and Game Programming (logic and code). Classroom blocks combine lectures and studio sessions, culminating in portfolio-ready assets and a gallery-style exhibition—hosted on-campus for residential students and on a gallery website for virtual participants.

Tuition and fees are set by UCLA Summer Sessions, with the residential track including housing and a meal plan. Financial support is available through UCLA Summer Scholars (for qualified California high school students) or other Summer Sessions scholarships for those with demonstrated need. The program’s pedagogy leverages UCLA’s media arts infrastructure, treating games as both expressive media and technologically sophisticated artifacts. This places the institute within a college-level studio practice framework, making it ideal for students seeking a rigorous, portfolio-oriented introduction to the gaming industry and interactive media.