August 2019 Student of the Month: Ryan W.!

Let’s hear it for our August 2019 Student of the Month, Ryan W.!

A Game-U student since 2015 (that’s a long time!), Ryan has advanced in level from Pioneer (ages 10 to 12) to Voyager (ages 12+).

These days, Ryan is sharpening his Unity game engine and C# programming skills with the help of Voyager instructor Dakota. Ryan has zoomed through the Rolling Ball, Endless Runner, and Mini Games challenges while advancing his knowledge each step of the way.

As part of the Voyagers’ most recently completed curriculum unit, Mini Games, Ryan worked with 2D primitive sprites that he created in Unity. These sprites formed the interfaces of each of his four mini games – Run, Dodge, Maze, and Collect.

Ryan coded C# scripts in the Visual Studio IDE (integrated development environment) so that players can interact with the sprites. His finished work includes a main menu, buttons, win conditions, randomizers, physics, platforms, and more. 

Check out Ryan’s Mini Game below!

When he’s not building Endless Runners or Mini Games in class, Ryan’s working with his GameWERX team to create original projects.

He and teammates Aaron S. and Michael R. designed and developed SpaceBears, an action game of their own! Ryan played the role of C# coder for this project, working closely with instructor Dakota to ensure success in multiple Unity versions. 

Get a peek at SpaceBears below!

Did you see the spaceship at the end of the game? Ryan is already looking ahead to creating SpaceBears 2 with his new Lunar Lander game. He captured the spaceship from SpaceBears as his lunar lander sprite so that when he finishes the Lunar Lander curriculum along with the rest of his class, he’ll also have completed a sequel to SpaceBears! Good thinking, Ryan!

As a student, Ryan is always upbeat, eager to learn, cooperative, and a team player. Even when he has to miss class for swim meets (his other superpower is swimming!), Ryan works hard in Open Labs to make up the time and keep his progress going. 

Congratulations, Ryan! In recognition of your work ethic, creativity, team spirit, quality projects, and commitment to grow, you are Game-U’s August 2019 Student of the Month! We are all rooting for you to reach ever higher!