A team of four Shawnee Mission seniors recently competed in a Virtual Reality (VR) Hackathon. VRoKCs sponsors the three-day event each semester for high school students. This semester’s problem was focused on improving athletes’ hand-eye coordination.
Each member of the Animation and Game Design team took a different role to help solve the problem most efficiently and effectively.
Truman Raile, SM East, took on the challenge of programming. Robert Commodore, SM West, worked on the visual assets. Isaiah Gordey, SM North, served as a tester and provided feedback to team members. Will Swan, SM East, contributed creative ideation and testing.
“Our solution featured the use of paddles to block balls from a goal, similar to the movement in tennis,” described Raile. “Users can determine the level from easy to hard that included the size of the paddles and the speed of the balls.” View the video here.
The team from SMSD placed third. Eleven teams competed including one remotely from Kentucky and another one from Germany.
“Shock and awe are how I describe this three-day event,” Bryan Johnson Animation and Game Design instructor explained. “It’s a unique opportunity for students to use VR programming and technology to solve real world problems.”
All four Shawnee Mission students plan on pursuing a career in technology or game design and agree that the Animation and Game Design Signature Program has put them ahead of their peers and potential co-workers.