Hi, I'm Truman. I'm a rising senior at Brooklyn Tech, and I've been teaching myself game design, digital art, and coding for years. I make games you can play and objects you can hold, and I built betrumaker.com as a free resource site for kids who want to make their own things. In my maker workshops I take a small group through my whole process: we start with a sketch, make it digital in Procreate, drop it into a real game, and finish the week with your character printed on something you can take home. It's real, hands-on making, built for kids going into 4th to 6th grade.
The Format
2 hours a day, Monday to Friday
Typical time: 10am to 12pm
Small groups
Lots of individual attention
Kids going into 4th to 6th grade
Bring an iPad with Procreate and a laptop
$75 per week
All supplies included
The Week
Develop an idea
- Presentation overview of the maker process
- Play test Tru's games together
- Brainstorm session — sketch your own character
Bring it to life
- Continue character development
- Learn the basics of Procreate tools
- Animation intro
- Digitize your character
See yourself in the game
- Learn the basics of how Tru's games are built
- Swap your character into a real game
- Play it yourself
- See what's possible — no coding experience needed
Test and Plan
- Play test each other's games
- Practice coding and make improvements
- Decide what product to make on Day 5
Take it home
- Make a custom product featuring their own character
- Shirt, tote, sticker — something real to keep
- Show-and-tell to wrap up the week
"Truman is talented, kind, and a natural with kids. He left my students more excited about building and creating than when they walked in, and that is really the whole point."Heather Prince, Library Media Specialist at Knollwood School
