HELENA — While high school seniors get ready to celebrate their graduation, there’s another accomplishment students here at Helena High School can take pride in.
“We put in a lot of work, but it was really nice to see that, you know, we can hold our own,” says team member Kaden Price.
A group of four students from Helena High School worked to create a video game within a matter of months for a national software engineering team virtual event.
After making it through rounds of competition, the group was invited to a showcase and award ceremony in Anaheim, California, where they took home second place.
There they were able to allow folks to play their newly created game.
“It feels awesome, especially considering I certainly and I think most of the other members want to go into computer science as a career,” says Price.
The arcade-style game, Harpoon Guy, features a player who uses a grappling hook to make his way through a maze while avoiding obstacles in hopes of avoiding a purple wave for as long as possible.
Foster Smith, one of the game’s creators, says this win shows what is capable when working on bigger projects.
“But it sort of helped show me that I'm able to complete bigger projects because I'm used to just sort of doing small little things. But like, it also gave me some experience working in a team and keeping that organized and those pitfalls that you can run into there,” says Smith.
