Members of the Coding Club took home the Best Newcomer Award at the eighth annual Oregon Game Project Challenge April 18.  The team, comprised of six freshmen, designed a video game related to this year’s theme of heroism.   In the game, a peasant performs favors for his fellow villagers in order to increase the town’s happiness.

The students created the story, graphics, and music, as well as writing the code.  “It was a big challenge to create the game,” said freshman Jonathan Cordisco, who designed the game’s graphic assets.  “One error in code or design can break the game.”

The group presented the game at the convention at Chemeketa Community College in Salem.  There, they met up with other teams from around the state and played each other’s games.  All teams listened to a presentation by Daniel DiCicco, independent developer and founder of Zer0sum Games, on his unexpected journey into game development.

The Oregon Game Project Challenge is the only statewide game programming competition in Oregon.  Its goal is to challenge middle and high school students in creativity, teamwork, and computer programming skills.  “[OGPC] was a fulfilling experience for everyone involved, and we all learned a lot,” freshman Charlie Pahl said.