Video Game Design/Developers

Hey guys, for this week's Monday Check-in, what has been your favorite piece of student work to date?

Mine was one of my early classes. A student in my analog design course took on a challenge from my book called "Luck-Tac-Toe" which does what the name implies, design a game of tic-tac-toe using some mechanism of chance. This challenge is often one of my least favorite, a lot of student phone this one in and tries to do some version of tic-tac-toe with dice.

This group used hidden information to turn tic-tac-toe into a blind-folded partner game with two teams trying to direct a blindfolded person on their team to pick up their markers and drop them in the correct spot. Absolutely brilliant.

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Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
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I have a group making a kinda simple space game. They are juniors. They really got into Blender though. They are making most of the assets and spending a ton of time making the assets in Blender. In the end their game will be basic but it will look fantastic because of their models. What I like most is that is shows a path for more artistic people, who are not so keen on programming. Instead of saying, I don't get programming, they chose a simple set of mechanics but made beautiful assets. I try to focus on programming bc my school has no programming or computer science classes, so my class is the only class that offers an programming. But I want sound and visual art people to want to take my class too and know that all are important on a game team.

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Owen Peery k12teacher
SAN FRANCISCO CA
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4-5 years ago I had two senior students in my board game class that were both great artists and active participants. They produced several fun, engaging, visually appealing games.
This year in my year 2 video game class I had a few projects that I was impressed by. Here are links to the games on itch.io
https://cjperson.itch.io/knightcake
https://geezeegames.itch.io/cube-man
https://mrmonkey17.itch.io/slime-escape-final-update

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Wesley Jeffries k12teacher
Riverside CA
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A new one I wanted to share. While the rest of the class were learning Unity, I had one student who really wanted to learn Unreal Engine. I said ok, and stepped aside. He was so good at gathering information he needed, accessing resources and forums to answer questions, and frequently shared updates to his project. This has got to be one of the most complex projects my students have completed, and I am so proud of his work. 

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Anthony White
Top of the World CSTA Vice President
CS/Game Dev - Kodiak High School
Kodiak, AK
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Original Message:
Sent: 5/22/2023 8:23:00 PM
From: Anthony White
Subject: RE: Monday Check in - Favorite Student Work

A new one I wanted to share. While the rest of the class were learning Unity, I had one student who really wanted to learn Unreal Engine. I said ok, and stepped aside. He was so good at gathering information he needed, accessing resources and forums to answer questions, and frequently shared updates to his project. This has got to be one of the most complex projects my students have completed, and I am so proud of his work. 

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Anthony White
Top of the World CSTA Vice President
CS/Game Dev - Kodiak High School
Kodiak, AK
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Original Message:
Sent: 5/22/2023 8:23:00 PM
From: Anthony White
Subject: RE: Monday Check in - Favorite Student Work

A new one I wanted to share. While the rest of the class were learning Unity, I had one student who really wanted to learn Unreal Engine. I said ok, and stepped aside. He was so good at gathering information he needed, accessing resources and forums to answer questions, and frequently shared updates to his project. This has got to be one of the most complex projects my students have completed, and I am so proud of his work. 

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Anthony White
Top of the World CSTA Vice President
CS/Game Dev - Kodiak High School
Kodiak, AK
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I pointed him in various directions of where to look for ideas or seek support. The rest he did all himself. I had him create some milestones/task list to help keep himself on track. Weekly updates on progress towards those milestones. He took a break for a few weeks once UE Fortnite came out and was toying around with that. He's a senior, and has no interest in a career in game development, but is tech savvy enough to manage on his own. Something to be said about seniors and their abilities compared to my freshman. Oy....my freshman...

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Anthony White
Top of the World CSTA Vice President
CS/Game Dev - Kodiak High School
Kodiak, AK
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-22-2023 20:17
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Monday Check in - Favorite Student Work

I have one kid that is all in on unreal and I've been a bit skittish about installing it in the lab. Did you get all the way out of the way or kids you have resources for him?

Original Message:
Sent: 5/22/2023 8:23:00 PM
From: Anthony White
Subject: RE: Monday Check in - Favorite Student Work

A new one I wanted to share. While the rest of the class were learning Unity, I had one student who really wanted to learn Unreal Engine. I said ok, and stepped aside. He was so good at gathering information he needed, accessing resources and forums to answer questions, and frequently shared updates to his project. This has got to be one of the most complex projects my students have completed, and I am so proud of his work. 

------------------------------
Anthony White
Top of the World CSTA Vice President
CS/Game Dev - Kodiak High School
Kodiak, AK
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 5/23/2023 1:06:00 PM
From: Anthony White
Subject: RE: Monday Check in - Favorite Student Work

I pointed him in various directions of where to look for ideas or seek support. The rest he did all himself. I had him create some milestones/task list to help keep himself on track. Weekly updates on progress towards those milestones. He took a break for a few weeks once UE Fortnite came out and was toying around with that. He's a senior, and has no interest in a career in game development, but is tech savvy enough to manage on his own. Something to be said about seniors and their abilities compared to my freshman. Oy....my freshman...

------------------------------
Anthony White
Top of the World CSTA Vice President
CS/Game Dev - Kodiak High School
Kodiak, AK
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 05-22-2023 20:17
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Monday Check in - Favorite Student Work

I have one kid that is all in on unreal and I've been a bit skittish about installing it in the lab. Did you get all the way out of the way or kids you have resources for him?