Game Camp is only half the story, well actually it’s only a quarter of the story!  For the weekend of December 2-4 at the Rochester Institute of Technology there will be a number of concurrent events focused on game development for the phone, XNA, and HTML5.  My colleague, Andrew Parsons, the Academic Evangelist who covers New York, is at the helm, and both Chris and I will be on hand to help out.

Register for RIT Game Camp

So here’s the deal, there are four different events going on throughout the weekend, but schedules overlap, so you’ll have to decide from among them:

  1. Game Jam Competitor - an all weekend challenge to build the best game you can in less than 48 hours. Form teams of up to four, and build your game in XNA, HTML5 or Silverlight. It all starts on Friday evening and ends Sunday afternoon, so be prepared to code and hack your way through the night and day to come out on top!  While there will be folks on hand to assist, you’ll mostly be on your own here – don’t expect a tutorial or in-depth training!
  2. XNA in a Day - learn how to develop games in XNA for Windows, Xbox 360 and Windows Phone - all in a single day. You'll create a game from scratch and go home with the tools you need to keep on going! XNA in a Day is run on Saturday only – just show up in the morning and by the time you head home Saturday night, you'll be on your way!  In preparation for the event, we recommend you install the necessary software before you get there, so download and install the Windows Phone SDK, and if you’re a student, stop by DreamSpark to get the full version of Visual Studio – free!
  3. Windows Phone Camp – are you a bit more serious about creating applications for Windows Phone and making money at it? Come along to this all day (Saturday) event that first teaches you the ins and outs, then challenges you to a hackathon to see what you can do in just a few hours. Grab the Windows Phone SDK before you come so you’ll have the maximum amount of time to work on your killer app.

    Oh, by the way, there’s a Windows Phone Camp being held on Tuesday, November 15th, as well – this one at the University of Rochester.  If you make that one, you’d then have a chance to pick one of the other three options for the RIT weekend!

  4. HTML5 Camp - want to know more about the latest standards for browser-based applications? In just four hours, this workshop will get you up and running as quick as you can say “CSS3”!  You’ll be working with WebMatrix in this session, so to make the most of the short amount of time, consider downloading it before you head over to the event.

We’ll keep you well fed and caffeinated, of course: Game Jam Competitors will get lunch and dinner provided throughout the weekend, and the other attendees will get lunch on Saturday.