Jordan, Game Classicist

Remember Jordan? He’s teamed up with instructor Erica as part of Game-U’s Accelerate program. Recently he finished a space shooter game, and he also works with the professional-level gaming engine, Unity, to recreate his family’s house. Today, Erica suggested he start another project, one of instructor Mike M.’s lessons – a rolling ball game!

Unity includes a modeling tool called Probuilder (remember Thomas’ work with the car?), which Jordan uses for his house project. Back in October, as part of Game-U’s new curriculum rollout, the Voyager classes also used Probuilder to model a roll-a-ball game. How many games and sports involve rolling, hitting, or throwing a ball? Almost too many to count! Baseball, basketball, volleyball, tennis, soccer, pinball, golf, catch…the list keeps going. A rolling ball is a classic game mechanic, and Jordan is a game classicist. He began building a track in Probuilder and even took a virtual trip to Unity’s asset store for some waterfall effects. Check out his video! Jordan’s track hovers over water and presents some cool challenges for the player. One incline in particular is so steep that it sends the ball flying into space at high speed – a flight the player can’t correct in time to continue the course. Jordan’s got plans to fix that bug next week. Like learning to play a game, learning to build a game takes practice and maybe a few falls before the game designer gets the hang of what he’s doing. Jordan’s well on his way to mastering game design!

Thanks for the video and the update, Jordan. You and Erica make an awesome team. It’s not likely many of us will be able to resist giving your rolling ball game a try once you’ve finished it. Keep in touch!