Tag Archives: gamemaker

When Shrey Pandya, 13, of Exton, Pennsylvania and Lucas Armand, 14, of Malvern, Pennsylvania set out to create their own fast-paced first person shooter game, they were determined to come up with a concept that was educational, nonviolent, and engaging for young players. The result, Outbreak: Cellular Warfare, is an exciting adventure in which you take on the role of an immunity cell, combating pathogens within your host in order to keep them healthy. “The immune system provided a very…

Zane Godil, age 12, learned about the National STEM Video Game Challenge from friends in his community of Beaverton, Oregon who had entered in previous years. “It was interesting and exciting to see what they’d come up with and hear about their experiences,” Zane says. With a little encouragement from his mom, Zane was empowered to create Deep Space Mayhem, winner of the Middle School GameMaker category in the 2016 National STEM Video Game Challenge. In Deep Space Mayhem, players…

When 17-year-old Brent VanZant looked up at the night sky while on vacation in New Mexico this summer, he didn’t just see hundreds of stars—he also saw the inspiration for an original video game design. “I thought it would be cool if you could control the height that an object orbited a planet and built my game off that idea,” says Brent. Thanks to that fateful gaze upward, the Los Alamitos, California native was inspired to create Orbit Arena, winner…

Steve Isaacs teaches video game design and development to middle school students in New Jersey, and has been recognized as an ISTE Outstanding Teacher this year. Here he shares his experience in developing a curriculum in game design at his school, and offers tips for educators interested in doing so at their own schools.   When I started teaching at William Annin Middle School (WAMS) in 1998, I offered an after school computer club that focused on Game Design and…

Back in 2009, an interest in animation led Litchfield, Ohio native Zack Harmon, 17, to start experimenting with interactive design in GameMaker. Over six years later, his passion for programming has evolved into a self-proclaimed addiction—and resulted in an award-winning video game. Zack’s game, Gongbat, features an ancient creature that battles evil by harnessing the power of sound, and took home the High School Gamemaker award in the 2015 National STEM Video Game Challenge. “The entire game was created over…

John Ripple, 14, and John Korhel, 14, share a common love of math and video games. Building on their mutual interests, the Parker, Colorado-based friends produced The Cube’s Journey, a platform game that follows an artificially intelligent cube’s journey to freedom—battling enemies, avoiding traps, and collecting gold bars along the way. Together, they won the Team Middle School Open Platform award in the 2015 National STEM Video Game Challenge. John Ripple’s initial inspiration for learning to program came from seeing…

Matthew Bellavia, 14, is a long-time player of console and PC games, so it was a natural fit when he started learning programming back in sixth grade. After experimenting with building basic games in Scratch, the Sammamish, Washington-native started using GameMaker as a way to combine a drag-and-drop interface with the ability to develop new code as a way to generate more complex games. Utilizing his knowledge of geometry and physics, his video game Gravity Galaxy won the Middle School Gamemaker…

Seong-Hyun Ryoo is a swimmer, artist, budding filmmaker and a very talented game designer. An 8th grader from Georgia, he seems mature and responsible for someone his age, speaking with a level of composure one would not expect from a middle schooler. That said, the strong sense of discipline that became evident during our interview helped him clinch the Best Middle School Gamemaker game in the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge. Seong-Hyun believes that games can be used to…

We’re thrilled to release the newest addition to the series of video case studies put out by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, in collaboration with and support from BrainPOP. In this video, Steve Isaacs, a Technology Instructor at William Annin Middle School in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, shares how he integrates video game design and development into his 7th grade curriculum.  Steve’s emphasis on the design process helps students develop essential 21st century skills, while sparking students’ interest and motivation through…