Gazette.Net: Youths' future careers on display at video gaming conference

A robotic bunny armed with a rocket launcher fights zombies that can change shape in Chicago because the bunny needs chalk.

Sound like a video game that children might play?

Absolutely, said students who together created the game concept Saturday with help from Hyattsville native Gabriel Pendleton during the third annual Video Gaming Conference: Imagine-Innovation-Serious Play II, held at Walker Mill Middle School in Capitol Heights.

Hosted by the nonprofit Patriots Technology Training Center based in Seat Pleasant, the half-day event introduced more than 50 students in grades five through 12 to some of the skills needed to work in the video game business, from designing the graphics to composing the music.

The technology center organizes workshops and competitions to encourage students to enter the S.T.E.M. fields of science, technology, engineering and math fields.

Pendleton, who currently tests and develops video games in Baltimore, randomly selected words off the lists made by the students to illustrate the basic elements of a video game — heroes, villains, weapons and goals — in a fun way.