MakeFest

The MakeFest Program

MakeFest offers a multi-year programme for teenagers to learn and practice all the skills needed to create, commercialize and evaluate a complex product. To keep participants motivated, MakeFest takes them on an exciting journey to learn game development, realize their own ideas, contribute to a marketed game and apply the scientific method to evaluate and improve it. See details below.

Learn the foundational skills needed to use your computer effectively and work well in a team. Take your first steps in game development by creating a simple game from scratch without any programming.

Your computer

Learn how to set up your computer, keep it healthy and use it safely and productively, including how to manage your passwords.

Teamwork

Learn tools and techniques to communicate and collaborate effectively in an online team. Practice communicating in English.

Better learning

Learn tools and techniques for note-taking and effective learning, so that you can actually remember and use what you learn.

First Game

Learn the basics of the Unity game engine and create the famous game Pong from scratch, without any programming.

Courses at a Glance

Here are the key points of our courses. If you have any questions or special requirements, please feel free to contact us for individual advice.

Computer at home: Students need a computer suitable for video-conferencing and a stable internet connection.
90 min per week: We meet for 90 min per week, either 90 min on one day or 45 min on two days.
New courses start in February & September: Courses follow school semesters and holidays, resulting in about 20 course weeks.
Age, class size & gender: There are courses for ages 10-12 and 13+. Class sizes are limited to 10 students. Girls are among our top participants and we encourage them to join!
Experience & Language: Beginner courses start from scratch. Students learn everything to use their computers productively and safely. We aim to speak English from the start, so participants need to have basic English skills.
Prices: Courses start at around 760 CHF including VAT, so 19 CHF per 45 min., depending on the level, duration, number of participants and country of residence.

Feedback from parents

What parents love about MakeFest

Visit What parents say to read the parents' feedback directly.

Motivation: Participants stay highly motivated for years. At first, they just love learning to create simple games. Over time, as they learn a rich range of skills, they feel proud and valued being able to contribute to the team's challenging projects.
Curiosity: From the start, the coach encourages and guides participants to ask questions and explore by themselves. The games developed by the team also inspire curiosity for various topics like math, physics, design, music, security, marketing and business.
Learning skills: Because participants really want to create their games, they become very interested in learning that sticks. They learn effective learning techniques which also prove very valuable for school.
Responsibility & Initiative: The courses require constant contributions from everyone, making them take responsibility from day one. And as they start contributing to the team's project, their responsibility and initiative naturally develops.
Digital skills: The courses teach a range of skills that are valuable for school and beyond: tools and techniques for communication and collaboration, learning and developing systems.
Problem solving skills: Kids learn how not to give up when facing tough problems, how to break them down into manageable pieces, and how to apply their new technical skills to solving them.
Communication skills: Participants practice reading, listening, discussing and writing at a rapid pace. The coach patiently supports beginners with their English and most see substantial improvements after only 1-2 courses.
Collaboration & Soft skills: Participants with different mother tongues and from different schools and countries learn to work as a team: to be reliable, to take care of tasks, and to support and respect each other.

Feedback from participants

What teens love about MakeFest

Becoming independent: You learn from the ground up how to set up and use your computer. You build confidence in making the computer do what you want and solving problems on your own.
Working in a team: You work in small groups and learn how to solve problems as a team, with everyone using their own computer from home. You can make friends from other classes, other schools and even other countries.
Creating games: At first, you learn how to create simple games and quickly have some fun. As you learn more skills, you can start contributing to the team's big projects, which is really fun and very rewarding.
Doing projects: Right after learning the basics, you start testing levels of the team's game and making suggestions. A little later, you start contributing to the levels. Once you are ready, you take over responsibility for a level.
Being creative: Even before you can create your own levels, you can contribute your ideas and creativity to the team's game. And as you learn more skills, you can realize more and more of your own ideas.
Gaining confidence: We speak English and at first some beginners are a bit shy. But it's not like school and the coach is very helpful. You'll be surprised how quickly you become confident in English and the other skills we learn.
Summer camp: Each summer, you can join the team for a week-long camp where we split our time between developing games and sailing. We also enjoy cooking together and doing other fun activities.
More fun at school: In our games, we get to use math, physics, music, art and other school subjects. This helped some of us like these subjects a lot more. And learning better ways to learn also helps at school.