Turns out it’s pretty easy to lure throngs of teens and elementary school students to the library on a Saturday morning, so long as there are dozens of video games there that they can play for free.
About 50 Evergreen Public Schools students showcased more than 50 games and interactive apps they designed and created to a steam of curious visitors during the Game Design Expo at Cascade Park Community Library on Saturday. Adults down to elementary school-aged students combed the rows of tables, laptops and desktop computers, playing, or watching others play, a variety of games, while the young designers explained the rules of the virtual world they had created.
Evergreen High School junior Malcolm Blackthorn listened intently as freshman Logan Weiss explained the concept behind his video game — the first one he’s created on his own in about two months. The goal is to get the highest score by clicking the right shape, which is chosen by the computer at random — but the game gets progressively harder as shapes shrink over time.
“I took the class because I love gaming and technology,” Blackthorn said. “I definitely want to be a game designer or animator.”
His game, Grand Theft Hot Dog Truck, puts the player behind the wheel of a hot dog truck, while zombies try to attack it.
“I gave them (artificial intelligence),” he said, meaning the zombies have responsive and adaptive behaviors during play.
The majority of the students only had a few months to build their games. Going into the event many were nervous to display their yet-to-be-completed games to an audience, said Jason Westerbur, a computer science teacher at Evergreen High School, and one of the event coordinators.
“Because many of the games aren’t finished (the students) thought people would be disappointed, but no, they’re excited,” he said.
Game design courses are taught as part of Evergreen’s Career Technical Education program, which prepares students for in-demand careers in emerging industries via hands-on learning.
Westerbur said the school has offered the classes for a few years, but in previous years it was more focused around the artistic side of things — board games and drag-and-drop computer tools, not computer programming languages as it is today. This format teaches students, most of whom haven’t done any programming before, how the often challenging and dense work can translate into something tangible and fun at the end.
“It propels them to want to do this, because they see what they’re doing does matter,” Westerbur said. “Programming can be dry and boring at times — frustrating, even, but this event shows them it can be exciting.”
The lessons extended beyond the classroom to the day itself. Whether they knew it or not, while the students were sharing their creations with curious visitors, they were practicing the art of effective communication and pitching their ideas to an audience.
Westerbur said this year’s event had a strong turnout, but next year organizers plan to reach out to more middle and elementary schools earlier to get broader participation.
Students and parents also heard presentations from professionals who work in the field who explained what it takes to make it and what they can expect once they’re in the industry. Various colleges from around Washington and Oregon also had tables at the event, to offer student information about their digital arts and game design curriculums.
