Video game design lessons

Learn to make games,
not just play them.

I teach video game design online through my teaching site, DV Game Design: live one-on-one lessons on Zoom for students anywhere in the world, or a small group of siblings and friends building together.

Every plan is built around one student and one goal: a first game, a portfolio piece, or a skill like 3D modeling or sound. No experience needed, every tool has a free option, and the goal is always something finished and playable your student can share.

Book an intro call Visit DV Game Design

2club seasons taught
1summer camp taught
22games published
6engines and tools in the arcade

Your instructors

Two game makers, one goal: your student ships a game.

Aaron Wedra

Founder of DV Game Design

I founded the video game design club at Da Vinci Charter Academy in Davis and taught two club seasons and a summer camp there. I make games in GameMaker, Unreal Engine and Blender, including the Coffee Time games and AR games like Star Bugs and Rapid Refill, and I run Smartz Graphics.

Jeff Steele

Instructor, founder of Xtra Round Games

Jeff founded Xtra Round Games in Davis, a studio that makes multiplayer AR games you play in person on the phone you already have, like Tank Off. He is my partner in game design tutoring and in AR, and he can help your student build games people play together.

Game 1

Star Bugs: a two-player AR game for your table.

Star Bugs are stealing the Pup Pups from Donut World. Play solo or bring a friend: two phones, one table. Fling sprinkle donuts from a licorice slingshot, bop each Star Bug with its own color, save the pups together and put your name on the top 10. It runs in your phone's browser, nothing to install.

Built on the two-player AR engine from Xtra Round Games, Jeff Steele's studio.

Play Star Bugs

Star Bugs in Donut World: the candy island with chocolate rivers full of sprinkles, five Star Bugs flying in, the Pup Pups, the licorice tower and a pretzel slingshot loaded with a pink sprinkle donut

Game 2, Jeff's game

Tank Off: turn your table into a battlefield.

Topple their crown by blasting the blocks, while protecting your own. A multiplayer AR game by Jeff Steele of Xtra Round Games: open it on a phone in Safari or Chrome and play with friends at the same table. Nothing to install.

Play Tank Off Xtra Round Games

Tank Off: two stone tanks fire across a table battlefield at a tower of blocks topped with a gold crown

Game 3, first draft

Archer the Archer: an AR adaptation of the club's game.

An AR adaptation of the game my students and I made in the Da Vinci Video Game Design Club, rebuilt in 3D for your table. Archer crash-lands his carrot truck, meets the townspeople and heads into lava dungeons full of angry plungers. Swing the sword, smash with the mallet, knock the plungers into the lava and find the keys. Same level, same rules, same characters as the original. A first draft: the whole level is playable while the last pieces get built.

Play Archer the Archer

Archer the Archer in AR: Archer with his red target face and sword in a stone dungeon room ringed by lava, two fire enemies beside him and flame statues on the walls

Game 4, all six worlds

Rapid Refill: get the coffee to Joe's.

Thermos rides his scooter through six clay worlds to deliver a fresh refill: Coffee World, Donut World, Warp World, Crumpet World, Tea World and the grand opening of Joe's Coffee House. Hop the hay bales, dodge Star Bugs, Pup Pups, flying toast and the Royal Tea crowd, and grab the shield to smash through. It is my Coffee Time side-scroller rebuilt as a stop-motion clay world, made for a real table: scan the code with your phone and each world lands right in front of you.

Play Rapid Refill

Rapid Refill gameplay in Crumpet World: Thermos on his scooter faces a rolling cinnamon roll pulling a chariot, with a clay statue, an orange tree and stone columns behind

Game 5, five levels

Donut Dash: you are the donut, and everyone is hungry.

The first game I ever made, rebuilt in 3D for your table. Help Donette collect donuts through five levels of sprinkle-ball mazes while hungry pup-pups close in. Jump over them, find the blue feather to hover, ride the clouds to catch donuts with wings, and keep clear of the Star Bugs. Then grab the golden wings, stun everyone and bring down a flood of donuts. Free, right in your phone's browser.

Play Donut Dash

Donut Dash: Donette in her red cape rides a cloud through a maze of blue and green sprinkle balls, hungry pup-pups spread across the maze, yellow Star Bugs and donuts with little wings flying overhead

Game 6, Jeff's game

Davis Zombie Parade: save Davis from the undead.

Jeff Steele of Xtra Round Games brought this AR game to Community Park for the 2026 Davis Zombie Bike Parade. Players scanned the code, aimed their phones and helped save Davis from the zombies, right in the middle of the festival.

See it at Xtra Round Games

The Davis Zombie Parade AR game on a phone in Community Park: a zombie climbs out of the grass beside a gravestone while the player lines up a throw

What your student can learn

A first 2D gameGameMaker or GDevelop, the fastest way to a finished game.
A 3D game in Unreal EngineLevels, Blueprints, sound and a playable build.
3D art in BlenderModeling, texturing, rigging and getting it into an engine.
Pixel art and animationAseprite, Piskel or Photoshop, from one sprite to a full character.
Sound and musicRecording, editing and putting your own audio in a game.
AI-assisted game makingClaude Code, 2D to 3D model generation and Mixamo rigging, brought into real engines.
A portfolio pieceA polished game or asset for a college application or an internship.
Augmented reality gamesGames you play on a real table with your phone, taught with Xtra Round Games.

AR games with Xtra Round Games

Build games people play on a real table.

Jeff Steele and I teach augmented reality game making together through Xtra Round Games, his Davis studio for multiplayer AR games you play with friends: no app, just a phone. Students learn the same workflow behind Star Bugs, Rapid Refill and Archer the Archer above, from a sketch to a game that lands on the kitchen table.

Visit Xtra Round Games

More at DV Game Design

Everything else lives at dvgamedesign.com.

Ready when you are. Let's get to work.

Book a working consult and we start on your project the same day: a single flyer, a full campaign, an AI system or a community-wide event.

Book a working consult Call or text 530-574-7306