042ee977-b4d9-4ef9-89df-189b1dc8a288Behind every exciting game is the blood, sweat and tears of a hardworking and dedicated team.  The IT and computer science girls of Upper 6 came together to create their 2nd incredible game called ‘HNC Halls’.

The girls who made this game were Celeste Williams, Kimberly Lequay, Rayann Bristol who were in charge of coding the obstacles, background, scoring, timer and spites (the items falling)/ actors and Chelsea Tompack, Zara Demonbrun, Tamia-Ashley Tuitt who were on the graphics committee that designed the actors and obstacles on the game.

Kimberly: There were set people that were supposed to be doing specific things but everyone just ended up working together.

And of course, who could forget the teacher who helped made it all possible?

Tamia: Mr. Charles who held us together like glue and motivated us throughout the process to keep working and making sure that only our best came out at the end.

I interviewed the girls to find out more of what went into the making of the game.

 

Obstacles faced

Rayann: We were faced with time as we had to come back after exams in order to start it, we needed to meet during the vacation where some of us weren’t able to do that also made it.

Chelsea: Some of the coding for the sprites (the items coming down) weren’t working and they were sticking at the bottom of the screen. A next thing is that the girl would fly off of the screen when you press the left or right button.

Celeste: The main obstacle was the obstacles themselves. Timing and sizing them was stressful.574b4a55-7745-4be3-8ba5-ead6bbccdf54

 

Inspiration

Tamia: We got inspiration from the first game as well as car racing games. You can see the main difference between the old game and this one is the perspective of the scene. In the first game the side profile of the girl was used whereas with this new game the perspective is from the back of the girl. We also gained some inspiration from our own school experience of coming into school late and having to drop off homework that is due.

Chelsea: Well we knew that we had to make some sort of game so we used HNC Dash as a reference. Someone came up with the idea of a girl reaching late to school and having to run to give her Hw to the teacher. We also added in obstacles that the average hnc girl would encounter and instead of her walking sideways (HNC Dash) we had her walking forward/up. I also came up with the name of the game “The Halls” because she’s well, walking through the halls.

Celeste: Mr. Charles was adamant that we try it so that encouragement in turn inspired us.

 

Experiences

Celeste: There were a lot of moments where nothing worked and people felt to quit, but we pulled through and worked together to finish it

Rayann:  It was a fun yet frustrating process because we all had fun times working on it yet, when a code or part of the games wasn’t working you would feel to pull your hair out!

Tamia: Working on the game was quite fun as a group. Whenever we were together doing everything we realised that we got more done than when we were all separated doing our individual parts on our own. For me, being on graphics, communication with my peers in that aspect was challenging as we all had stages to complete in the development of the girl especially because she had to be drawn out first hand before any graphics or animations could take place. So we definitely learnt that we each have an integral part to play and we must do our best at it or we might make someone else’s part more difficult.
87021e20-cae5-414b-a2a9-183606876914Launching Day

Kimberly: It was good when it launched in the school because that meant we were finally done with it and didn’t have to stress no more.

Chelsea: I felt like it could have been so much better but a lot of hard work went into the making of the game. I am proud that I was a part of it and now I can say that I made a game.

Celeste: Very nervous because you’ve been working on something for so long and in the end they can either say they like it or they don’t and that’s that.

Rayann: The team was sort of anxious to see how the school and public would react to it but overall it was a great feeling and a new stepping stone in this subject.

Tamia: Launching the game to the school was a bit nerve racking as we didn’t know what the response would be. This game was like our baby and we just want everyone else to love it as much as we did. Thankfully the response was great and we could finally say that we accomplished what we had set out to do.

 

Plans for the future

Rayann: After having this game experience I am dreaming of creating another one but the time and work it takes to do it may hold me back.

Kimberly: I’ll probably make more if I have the time.

Tamia: I would love to create more games in the future if opportunities allow. It is an amazing experience and you feel a sense of accomplishment when it’s done. I would also recommend giving it a go to anyone who has interests in the areas of IT, Computer Science or Graphics.

 

These girls surely inspired their peers and the rest of the girls in the school and showed them that once you put your mind to something, you could do amazing things.

Leave a Reply