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Students Create Video Games for Class


Orono - At first glance, this video game may not seem like a learning tool.

"Christopher Walken passes out, wakes up the next morning and zombies are all over his farm."

Mr. Walken then has to collect crops in order to save his farm from certain doom.

That's the summary John Cole and his teammates will give you about their video game.

While it may not sound academically challenging, these University of Maine students actually put a lot of work into creating it.

"We've been working on since the beginning of November," said team member, Michael Neron.

It's all part of their final project for a computer programming class.

Students were separated into teams and had to create a video game to be showcased at the end of the semester.

Anyone passing through the event can play a game, and then vote for their favorite on this ballot. The winner gets bragging rights and a great opportunity.

"The prize is a five week contract with the entire team. It's one-hundred dollars a week for each member. A total worth of three-thousand dollars to build a software game that's educationally oriented for the students of Maine."

Randy Smith, of Jackson Laboratory, stopped by the competition to judge.

The Bar Harbor lab created a prize for students to compete for in hopes that it would inspire an interest in biology.

The incentive worked.

"It's a great motivation. It really probably bumped our game up in quality by the motivation it gave us."

Even if they don't walk away with the grand prize, it's not game over.

There are still three smaller cash prizes up for the taking.

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