Departments: ICT
Year 6 Gifted & Talented Days: Games Design
 On Tuesday 10th June and Thursday 19th June, Year 5 and 6 students from Earlsdon, Finham, Grange Farm, Howes, Manor Park ad Stivichall Primary Schools took part in ICT Gifted and Talented ICT sessions at Finham Park School. The sessions were about designing and creating computer games...
In their first session, the pupils investigated what makes a 'good' game and learnt to use the Games Design software 'Game Maker' to create a simple game. In session two the pupils created their own maze games, and added features such as extra levels, moving enemies and lives.
All the pupils did very well indeed and were a real credit to their schools. Mr Bridgeman and Mr Downie were very impressed with the high standards of the games that were produced as well as how hard the pupils worked. Quite a few carried on working through break time as well! The Year 6 teachers were a great help as well, and are now Games Design expert themselves!
Everybody produced a working game and while it was impossible to pick one overall, you can download and play some of the best examples below.
Many thanks to the following pupils for making your games available for download (click on a name to download their game):
Andrew Wharbuton & Cameron Nagra (Manor Park)
Charlotte Blakeman and Rishi Sehmar (Stivichall Junior)
Nick Ferlisi (Howes Primary)
Emma Tweedie (Earlsdon Primary)
Chelsea Campbell (Finham Primary)
Cindy Carey & Ramisha Shajahan (Grange Farm)
 Here's what some of the people involved had to say:
"I thought it was really fun and it added enjoyment because the teacher was really kind and helpful"
Charlotte Blakeman, Stivichall Junior School
"I thought that Game Maker is really fun and I have learned a lot"
Rishi Sehmar, Earlsdon Primary School
"It was fun making a game because you're getting know how they build games!"
Dilan, Year 5, Grange Farm Junior School
"(It was) very educational, informative and fun"
Mrs Dixon, Grange Farm Junior School
"The students did very, very well - I was impressed with their enthusiasm and how much they could do in a short space of time. They produced some great games too!"
Mr Bridgeman, Finham Park School
"It was fantastic to see students from different schools working together side by side"
Mrs Finn, Head of Year 7 at Finham Park School
Fancy having a go at writing a game yourself? You can download Game Maker for free from www.yoyogames.com.
And look out for the Game Maker section of the ICT department's webpages, which will be launched in the autumn and will contain downloadable resources and support materials. As a taster here are the materials and instructions for producing a simple ClickBall game. There's also a sheet of the most useful Game Maker commands for you... the rest is up to you!
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