Year 9 pupils on the online Pre-GCSE Inspire Programme have been hard at work on some fantastic competition entries for our second online class on the theme “How to design a successful video game.” In this class we looked at English and History. You can see some of the outstanding work produced by our students below.
Congratulations to the winners of the Class 2 competitions:
- Nathan, Harrow
- Joy, Ealing
- Rebecca, Harrow
- Lina, Harrow
- Tommaso, Ealing
Each of you have won an Amazon voucher. This will be sent to the email address you provided in your competition cover sheet; please get in touch with us at inspire@sjc.ox.ac.uk if you haven’t received yours by the end of the week.
Competition 4: Story structure
When game designers make a game, they often create a useful story structure. A designer uses important story plot-points as obstacles, disasters and crises in their game, making them into enemies or object-finding quests for the protagonist (and player) to solve in order to continue the story. An obstacle in a game could be a conversation, a combat sequence or a puzzle. Climaxes at the end of acts are known as ‘Boss’ levels, very important checkpoints in the gameplay and story where the main character adapts and changes in a very significant way. Using the ‘three act structure’, take your favourite story and turn it into a video game.
First place: Nathan, Harrow
Nathan’s entry does an excellent job of building a ‘three act structure’ out of the story of Aeneas, as well as also incorporating some gameplay mechanics into the story’s structure. Click the picture to enlarge.
Second place: Joy, Ealing
Finalist:
Competition 5: Let’s Play in Ancient Greece
Imagine you are a member of the Athenian Assembly in Ancient Greece. In the future, the University of Oxford’s Classics Department has been successful in its attempt to send back in time its commentated play-through of the game ‘Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey’ which takes place in your lifetime, just for you to watch.
Using at least one episode of the Oxford Classics Department’s ‘Let’s Play Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey’ series as your basis (and your own experience with the game if you have played it) write a 300-word piece from the Athenian’s point of view. In particular, consider what you would notice, learn or be outraged by in watching your history played as a game.
First place: Rebecca, Harrow
Rebecca’s entry does a fantastic job of illustrating the cultural and linguistic differences at play between historical events and their fictional representations. Click the picture to enlarge.
Finalist:
- Aditi, Harrow
Competition 6: Your favourite story
Each class will have a photo, art or short video competition with a prompt based on the topic we are studying in that class. For Class 2, we want you to feature the best storyline you have ever encountered in a game, whether in a video game, card game, board game or something else! Entries can be photographs or short (<10 seconds) videos. You should also include a short written explanation of your entry (maximum 100 words).
First place: Lina, Harrow
We particularly appreciated Lina’s thoughtful explanation of how characters contribute to the plot in Super Mario Bros! Click the picture to enlarge.
Second place: Tommaso, Ealing
Finalist:
- Dipti, Ealing
Remember: the deadline for Class 3’s competitions is 5pm next Wednesday, 3 June. We’re looking forward to seeing some more fantastic work – and there are some more Amazon vouchers on offer for the winning entries!