A Los Al student with a keen interest in video game programming recently won a video game contest and was recognized at the Nation’s capitol.
Los Al High School senior Brent VanZant was recently announced as the winner of the High School Game Maker category in the 2016 National STEM Video Game Challenge for his game called Orbit Arena.
Brent said he entered the video game design competition “for fun,” and said he did it because “he likes programming.”
A Los Al student with a keen interest in video game programming recently won a video game contest and was recognized at the Nation’s capitol.
Los Al High School senior Brent VanZant was recently announced as the winner of the High School Game Maker category in the 2016 National STEM Video Game Challenge for his game called Orbit Arena.
Brent said he entered the video game design competition “for fun,” and said he did it because “he likes programming.”
His winning video game idea came to Brent while star-gazing in New Mexico when he was on vacation, according to an article on the website of the organization behind the competition–The Joan Ganz Cooney Center.
“I thought it would be cool if you could control the height that an object orbited a planet and built my game off that idea,” said Brent.
Each winner received a cash prize of $1,000, as well as a subscription to Gamestar Mechanic from E-Line Media and Curiosity Boxes from Vsauce. STEM Challenge winners can also designate $2,000 to a school or non-profit organization as an institutional award recipient.
Brent designated Los Alamitos High School, specifically the Physics and Biology departments to be the recipients of the Institutional Award.
The winners were recognized at an award ceremony at National Geographic in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14 with top original video games and game design concepts selected in 18 categories from nearly 3,000 entries.
Presented by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and E-Line Media., with founding sponsor the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the STEM Challenge aims to motivate interest in science, technology, engineering, and math(STEM) among youth by transforming their natural passions for playing video games into designing and creating their own video games.
To read a profile on Brent online visit the following website: http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/2016/11/14/meet-the-winners-brent-vanzant/