Students in Mr. Maturo’s Twice Exceptional class have been hard at work learning how to design and program video games, and their very first game is nearing completion.  Students have been learning about the elements of good game design, including topics such as the genres of games, how a game differs from a toy, and how to challenge the player without making the game too difficult.

Mr. Maturo explained how he and his class create their games using the elements of good game design:

Our students’ new game has been created using Clickteam Fusion 2.5, the same professional-grade software suite used to create such popular titles as “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and “The Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures”. In Clickteam Fusion 2.5, students have created a “brick-breaker” style action/puzzle game called “Chocobreak”.  Using a visual interface, students have programmed every aspect of the game, including a scoring mechanism and high score screen, sound effects, and power-ups.  Students have been given the freedom to be creative in designing their very own level in order to challenge each other to set the high score.

The valuable skills that students develop in the Twice Exceptional Program will give them a competitive advantage in the real world of game design. Our Twice Exceptional program is in its second year at The Calais School and has expanded after last year’s award-winning pilot program was recognized by the state of New Jersey as an Innovator in Special Education.