Elkhart Times

Two UCS students earn national title for creating a video game with environmental message

When it comes to finding a solution to our oceans, Logan Lawler and Drew Oleski are true gamers.

Their environmental commitment has earned the Eisenhower/Utica Center for Science and Industry sophomores $10,000 in scholarships in the Games for Change challenge.

The scholarships are the result of a national championship the pair won for their video game, “Port Pickup” in which players maneuver a boat around the ocean and gain energy by collecting trash and reducing pollution.

“I like that we kept the game simple and that it was about a cause in the world – collecting trash from the ocean,” said Oleski.

The Games for Change (G4C) Student Challenge is the leading national game design program that combines students’ passion for games with digital learning and civic engagement.

Students from across the country submit working video games and advance through local, regional and national competitions. Games will be evaluated by industry pros and Theme topic experts.

For Lawler and Oleski, their success against their national peers not only gives a $10,000 head start in saving for college, it also further encourages them to follow their interests in design and programming video games.

“This showed us that we could make something worthy of winning a $10,000 scholarship,” Lawler said. “This a really big accomplishment that will motivate us a lot.”

“Port Pickup” is available online at: Unity WebGL Player | Port Pickup (drrewww.github.io).

Both students are part of the Utica Center for Science and Industry, which they credit for building skills to design the program.

“Drew and Logan embraced a challenge as well as the skills taught at CSI and worked independently to create a computer game that teaches our community how to better care for the environment,” said CSI teacher Melissa Webb.  “I am happy to see that Drew and Logan have continued to make games and are eager for this year's Challenge."

Lawler is part of the program’s multi-media program – which assisted in the design of the program – and Oleski’s programming track supports his work to code the game.

“At CSI, You know everybody,” Oleski said. “There is a really unique culture to it, and everyone around you is basically the same level.”

Lawler and Oleski said they spent five months taking their game from concept to completion, including multiple testing and redesigns.

Their goal was to create a game that was simple in its context that allowed users to become aware of their responsibility to reduce pollution by keeping oceans free from trash.

Original source can be found here.