Student games to feature on giant outdoor arcade system

Student games to feature on NZ’s first, giant outdoor arcade gaming system!

Gap Filler’s giant, outdoor arcade gaming system, Super Street Arcade, is soon to host several new games made by Christchurch high-school students.

The students from Burnside, Lincoln and Papanui HIgh Schools have been working on creating games for the system since March this year. Seven teams from Years 12 and 13 have created games as part of their Digital Technology class and Gap Filler’s Learning Experiences Outside the Classroom programme, which began this year. Supported by the Ministry of Education, the programme has seen students go from experiencing the Super Street Arcade for themselves, to responding to a brief, creating and working on concepts and presenting concepts to a panel of experts, including game developers CerebralFix and the Gap Filler team.

“We try our best to find authentic learning opportunities within our projects” says Sally Airey, Gap Filler’s Learning Facilitator. “Super Street Arcade offered the chance for students to create arcade games for the Super Street Arcade system and we’ve been thrilled to have real-world developers CerebralFix (who regularly create games for the likes of Disney) mentor the students. What a cool experience for the students to take a concept and develop it, and with feedback from game developers and others, create a game that they can see being played on the street by strangers - along with the credits they have earned towards NCEA they have also created a fun experience for the people of Christchurch.”

Since March, the students have been refining and developing their concepts. Earlier this month they tested their games on an online platform developed by Ben Hollows, one of the students from Burnside High School which allowed people to give the student game developers online feedback. After further development, the games were tested on the Super Street Arcade system. With some further refinement their games are ready for loading onto the Super Street Arcade system this week.

The best games, as determined by feedback and how well they adhere to the original brief, will be able to be played by members of the public for three days each across the October school holidays. To see the games that are currently being played on Super Street Arcade visit https://www.facebook.com/superstreetarcade/

“We're blown away by what the students have achieved, they're tackling quite complex technical and design challenges and smashing it. And not only are these students learning game craft and the skills that go with that, they are learning how to deliver software projects as a team which is a critical skill to learn” says Nadia Thorne, Head of Studio at CerebralFix.

“There’s so much learning that goes on when working on something like this” says Sally Airey. From working to a brief, to time management, and collaboration with others; the students can take a lot from being involved in this programme. We hope to be able to run it again next year, too.”

The Super Street Arcade has hosted a number of games now: Attack of the Cones, Space Raiders and now the student games. The next game in development is one that will create an immersive experience for the player and involve creating music. It is a collaboration with the CSO, Hamish Oliver and CerebralFix once again.

The games on Super Street Arcade have been played nearly 125,000 games since mid-December 2016.

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