Hey finnybear,
First off, it is awesome to hear your son has an interest in game development, at a young age, and that you have support in him.
I was 25 when I decided to pursue video games as a career and caused quite the uproar in my family, as in their mind, video games couldn’t lead to a career path. Without that support system, I was left with what resources I could afford through literature, such as programming books, and what was available online. Learning this way is a grind. It is up to you as the individual to find what you are looking for and often times, read between some lines to figure out what the tutorial is trying to teach, as many online tutorials are made by people who want to try and reteach what they have learned. This means finding a “lesson plan” or really any structure is quite tough. It is however, very engaging to to research what you want, when you want. It just takes a lot of work and time.
This leads me to say that if you can find a trustworthy group of people, with game development experience, $900.00 a week might be worth it, to keep your son on a path. Now, this is dependent on many factors, such as the value of $900.00 dollars; which is definitely a lot of money, to me. But, as you mentioned, socializing with other kids who like making games might be worth the cost.
I would say, it is also dependent on the summer camp and who is teaching it. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to find that the camp is very rudimentary and that your son might blow through it and be bored doing so. I would definitely set up a call with one of the instructors or a councilor to get more information; let them sell you on why it’s worth that much money. If you aren’t convinced by their ability to tell you why it would be a good camp for your son, my guess is that it won’t be.
As for computer hardware, your son will definitely need it along the way. I would say that a $1200.00 computer is enough to develop on and every dollar more, makes it a bit quicker and allows the software (such as UE4), to run a bit more smoothly. Repeat this every 3-5 years (given no hardware failures or accidents), and he will always be setup to make games.
Finally, your son has so much time to get caught up on how to do this stuff. Summer camps, books, or online tutorials, he will have a ton to read, learn, and practice.The way I see it, letting him explore the topic will give him a huge opportunity when he’s reaching 15-16 years old and begins to think about entering the post high school world. This field leads into so many different variants of creativity, whether it’s traditional art, 3D art, animation, programming, world building, lighting techniques, set design, audio production, music, etc. He will be able to understand so many things at a point in his life many of us are questioning what to pursue.
Good luck to you and your son with his endeavours.
Feel free to ask any follow up questions, if you have any.