Game Design Elective Inspires Creativity, Promotes Critical Thinking, and Encourages Career Exploration

As a part of the extensive elective course options available to students in grades 9-12, PA Distance offers a variety of computer science courses, including Game Design. Taught by Business Technology teacher, Mr. Gates, Game Design teaches students the foundations of creating video games using JavaScript. 

“Game Design is a rigorous course within Code HS,” Mr. Gates explained. “The class focuses on the concept of creating video games, which is very similar to writing a book.” 

Game Design is broken down into lessons with video tutorials, short quizzes, example programs, and written programming exercises. Students learn about conditional statements, mouse events, arrays, loops, and many other game design concepts. The first project Mr. Gates introduced to his class allowed students to create their own basic game, outside of the virtual world, that contains a natural flow, unique complexity, and a specific set of rules.

“I assign each student to play the game they created, with other people at home, to identify any issues or sticking points, so they can work on fixing or debugging it,” Mr. Gates explained. “I want my students to master the game-design framework clearly and concisely before creating code.” 

“These skills build on one another so that when they’re finally ready to create their own within Code HS, they understand what’s required to make an enjoyable, but challenging, computer video game.”

One of the biggest benefits of the Game Design class, as well as the other computer science courses that Mr. Gates teaches, is the strong connection to career readiness. 

“All of the students that have taken Game Design so far have shown an interest in becoming a game designer,” Mr. Gates said. “However, sometimes this course helps students realize that they don’t love coding, and they get nervous that there isn’t a place for them in computer science-focused careers.”

Mr. Gates often explains to his students that they don’t have to be computer programmers or be good at coding to have a career in the computer game industry. They explore a variety of other career paths throughout the class so that students learn how they can pursue their love of video games in the future.

PA Distance 11th-grader Rook Fait, has shown a significant interest in computer science and, specifically, game design. Rook has taken several computer science elective courses at PA Distance, including Technology, Computer Science I, and Game Design. This year he is enrolled in Computer Science II and AP Computer Science Principles. 

“In Game Design, I liked that our brains were constantly being tested when using Javascript to make games,” Rook explained. 

“I want to venture into computer science after graduation and most likely major in computer science or information technology in college,” he added. “I’m considering a career as a web developer.” 

Rook’s computer science skills are quite impressive, as he is currently a Roblox developer. As an independent contributor, he writes scripts (using the programming language called Lua) so people can play the games.

“Once I publish the game to Roblox, people can play it,” Rook explained. “I’ve contributed to 20-25 million play sessions. It’s not the most that a developer has ever done but I’ve been able to work on a variety of games.”

“I’m working on a game right now that is in the early phases of development. When it's done, it will be groundbreaking,” he added.

“Rook is an amazing resource,” Mr. Gates explained. “I often encourage him to lead the way during some of the other computer science classes that he’s been in.” 

At the end of the course, students like Rook will have created several games in the Code HS platform and will be ready to begin projects on their own.

“By the time they finish the Game Design course, they will have 2-3 games to add to their portfolio to potentially use down the road,” Mr. Gates added. “Students could use these as work examples when applying and interviewing for jobs.” 

For more information on the Game Design course, reach out to Mr. Gates or a PA Distance high school counselor.