They used their considerable talents to create a virtual reality game which is now receiving some amazing accolades.

On this episode of the Supercast, meet the Digital Media students at JATC North who designed a three-dimensional virtual reality game that’s garnering a lot of attention. Find out how their game transports people into a different world using the illusion of being there.

Anthony Godfrey:

Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They used their considerable talents to create a virtual reality game, which is now receiving some amazing accolades.

On this episode of the Supercast, meet the Digital Media students at JATC North who designed a three-dimensional virtual reality game that's garnering a lot of attention. Find out how their game transports people into a different world using the illusion of being there.

We are at JATC North to learn more about the Digital Media program. We're here with the instructor and some students who have won State and are headed to Nationals. So first introduce yourself and tell me a little bit about the course you teach.

Lisa Wadzeck:

Hi, my name is Lisa Wadzeck. I teach Digital Media at the JATC. Basically, it's a place where you can come and be creative and research all the careers that revolve around being creative and working in technology, such as animation and video game production.

Anthony Godfrey:

And it's that combination, creativity and technology. There's a wide range of opportunity within that combination. We spoke briefly on a previous podcast and we've been wanting to come back for a while now. And this award-winning group is the best excuse ever to come back and talk with you more about what happens in the class. But for those who may not have heard before, tell me a little bit about the range of student interests that you meet in this class and the range of students who might be interested in taking a course like this.

Lisa Wadzeck:

We have everyone that just loves to draw and hasn't really thought about what careers might be related to that and can research where they can go with graphic design and illustration and magazine layout, those types of things, to students who've had programming but want to see how to apply that to making video games and creating their own assets to make the video games. We have several students interested in audio production and video production. We've got 2D and 3D animations. We have several students who are interested in making their own films, writing their own music and score for films or just music for bands in general, photography.

Anthony Godfrey:

So there are all kinds of outlets for creativity in the class.

Lisa Wadzeck:

Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:

Tell me a little bit about the competition and project that we're going to explore today.

Lisa Wadzeck:

So one thing that's really neat, and I am so proud of my students for, is because this is a new technology, I do not have any training in this. We've had to dive in together and when I say together, mostly the students have researched how to make this work. My program does have some game design background but making that work on a VR is a different approach with the types of code and things that you need to use. So they've had to go out and research what works best to make the mechanics and the activities that they want to experience.

But ultimately they took a theme from the Technology Student Association they gave that was encouraging students to be more healthy and physically active. They completely planned this original game of what is the experience going to be like. What is it going to look like? What do we need to model? What do we need to code? And then also come up with their own plan of deadlines and responsibilities and work together in a team of six to create a single project. Which in K-12 education most people think group projects are kind of hard because there are a lot of issues that kind of come with that. But in the creative industry that is absolutely what you're doing. You are working as a team. So we try to do as many things that encourage building those skills as a team and these guys just rocked it.

Anthony Godfrey:

Fantastic. So what's the name of the competition or the category in which they–

Lisa Wadzeck:

It's VR experience through the Technology Student Association and I believe the name of their game is Bouldering.

Anthony Godfrey:

Bouldering. Alright, let's find out about Bouldering. Introduce yourself, tell me your name, the school that you're from, and what it was that led you to take this class.

London Baker:

My name is London Baker, I'm from Copper Hills and I think what led me to take this class was probably the graphic design part of it. There was a, at my middle school they talked about JATC and the Digital Media program and all of the examples they gave was people working on the Cintiq tablets and drawing and I was like I want to do that. Sounds awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:

Good. That's helpful for me to know that because I always want as many students as possible to know about the amazing opportunities here, and you say Digital Media and I worry that they don't realize just how many opportunities are embedded in that. So I'm glad to know that those middle school visits really help and I'm glad you're here. How about for you, introduce yourself and tell me a little bit about why you're here.

Marissa Pierce:

I'm Marissa Pierce and I'm from the West Jordan High School. I heard about JATC somewhere along the lines of last year, I don't know where. But I figured that I wouldn't have anything to do since I did a lot of my classes already so I chose to go and try to be a part of JATC and it worked. I liked the Cintiqs and the pictures of the website so I would go into Digital Media two weeks after joining JATC like being there.

Anthony Godfrey:

And where are the Cintiqs? What is that exactly?

Marissa Pierce:

They are those fancy things. Oh, so that's the device, that's the computer that you're using to create on. I'm looking forward to seeing how that works. Okay, introduce yourself.

Josh Copp:

I'm Josh Copp, I'm from West Jordan High School. I came to JATC mostly for the animation stuff. I wanted to try it out, that was what I wanted to do and I've really been into it. I had some experience with the 3D modeling program Maya before and I've really expanded upon that, and I've also done some 2D animation. And I've just, I've really enjoyed my time just learning other things other than animation as well here.

Anthony Godfrey:

What was your exposure to Maya before being in this program?

Josh Copp:

I took a private class outside of school. That's how I was first introduced.

Anthony Godfrey:

Great. I don't have any idea what Maya is but I'm glad that it was a gateway to getting you here.

Josh Copp:

Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:

How about you?

Noah Campbell:

I am Noah Campbell, I am a senior from Bingham High School and this is my second year at JATC. Last year I was able to do the programming portion and I was able to participate in the video game design and go to the competition that we took first in this year. And then I really enjoyed being able to work on video games last year and I was like, I kind of really like all this computer stuff so I decided to use my creativity side and join this class after doing the programming. I decided last year before doing the programming that I would do programming first, get all those skills down, and then I'd be able to come into this class, have a little bit more fun, and be creative about it and we've been able to work on this awesome project.

Anthony Godfrey:

Add creativity to the programming and technological side.

Noah Campbell:

Add the creativity side and combine them to make cool projects.

Anthony Godfrey:

Great. Well, tell me a little bit about the project, Bouldering.

Noah Campbell:

So what we have over here next to this computer, this is the main computer that I've been working on. We're using Unity to make the video game and kind of organize everything. We have a lot of different softwares like Maya that they've been using. Maya is a modeling software and that's where we make all these models. So if you see, this is one of our main maps right here and it's kind of like this mystical mushroom island that you can kind of see.

Anthony Godfrey:

So you use Maya, the modeling in Maya to create those mushrooms.

Noah Campbell;

To make these and then we transfer them over and we're able to upload them onto here and then I can go through here. I can work with lighting, I can work with making it look visually well and then more so putting in the game mechanics and the physical actual things of the VR right here.

Anthony Godfrey:

So when you're participating in this game or playing this game, is it educational at the same time that it is entertaining? What exactly is the point of the game?

Noah Campbell:

So like Ms. Wadzeck said earlier, the main point of the competition and the op-ed that they gave us was creating it for physical activity to encourage it for younger kids. So we talked as a team and we decided we need to make it so it's kid-friendly and then we need to make it so somehow physical activity gets in there. And the first thing, well one of the first things that came to our mind was climbing. We thought climbing, like rock climbing, playing on playgrounds, all sorts of stuff, that's a really good way to get in physical activity and using a VR, being able to climb in VR would be awesome. That's where we got our name Bouldering from, from the actual physical activity you would find outside jumping around on rocks and actually climbing.

Anthony Godfrey:

So it'll be virtual climbing. Is there any virtual falling involved?

Noah Campbell:

So in regards to falling, and this was actually something that was brought up, because you can actually fall in some areas on this. And we don't want to scare the kids that are playing. This is meant to encourage education. So we were able to come up with this really cool animation that we're working to implement. And basically, when the character falls, let's say you climb up to a really high height on one of the levels and you just fall, he's going to pull out this umbrella and then he's going to glide down on this umbrella and it's just going to kind of reset him at the beginning of the level.

Anthony Godfrey:

I like that.

Noah Campbell:

So it's not violent, it's not scary, it doesn't cause any problems with you wearing the VR and making you sick and stuff like that.

Anthony Godfrey:

Tell me about what happens next. You took State, London tell me a little bit about the state competition and going to Nationals.

London Baker:

Well, the state competition was kind of stressful.

Anthony Godfrey:

And what did that involve, what did that look like that day?

London Baker:

So we just had to turn in all of our planning stuff. And it was like there were two rounds of competition where we would turn in our planning stuff and then we would go to a second round. Then they would actually play our games and talk to us about it and then they would do the final judging and see who won.

Anthony Godfrey:

So multiple people played your game and you were waiting for them to judge other people and all of that. So it's a little bit difficult. There's that anticipation that keeps building as you wait for them to come and work on your game in particular.

London Baker:

Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:

Well, things turned out. So now when is Nationals and where are you headed?

Josh Copp:

It's June 25th and it's taking place in Orlando, Florida. I'm also currently working on some new music for the game and sound effects just to add a little bit more polish to the game. For another level we're designing it's like a medieval castle-like level and I'm designing some houses for this village outside of the castle. I'll probably also put in some other items and help around by actually implementing things you can climb in the level and you know make it a game instead of just a pretty scene.

Anthony Godfrey:

Oh, instead of just an environment that you enter. So there's the game component of it.

Stay with us. When we come back, I try out the award-winning game created by the Digital Media students at JATC North.

Break:

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Anthony Godfrey:

Can you give me the VR experience of Bouldering?

Noah Campbell:

Yes, I can.

Anthony Godfrey:

Okay. Do I sit here?

Noah Campbell:

You can actually, we can go stand right over here.

Anthony Godfrey:

Oh yeah, that's right. It's VR. So I'm just going to hook up on the headset. See I was going to sit down at the computer that tells you how advanced my video game skills are.

Noah Campbell:

So this is an Oculus 3 and so this is one of the newer ones. I think it's the most recent one.

Anthony Godfey:

I did not use an Oculus 3 when I was in my high school computer class just, you know, to clarify.

Noah Campbell:

It's really cool that they added this competition because, well, last year was the first time they added it and so there was a lot of new stuff that was kind of made. I'm drawing the areas right now so you don't run into anybody.

Anthony Godfrey:

Yeah, you're turning around in a circle with the Switch controllers in your hand. Okay. Or the equivalent. Or the Wii. They're like Wii controllers. Yeah.

Josh Copp:

Yeah, you got it.

Anthony Godfrey:

At least I'm not referencing Pong in the Atari 2600, you know, which I still have at home by the way, if you want to see any antiques. I do have those.

Noah Campbell:

So it might be a little tight.

Anthony Godfrey:

Should I put these on?

Noah Campbell:

Yeah, you have to put them on.

Anthony Godfrey:

It is going to be tight. I have a little bit of a...

Noah Campbell:

You’ll hold on to these and those will go back and forth and this will go up and down.

Anthony Godfrey:

Oh wow. You guys created all of this?

Noah Campbell:

Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:

That's pretty amazing. It looks like a pretty fun play place. There's a sandbox. This is very soothing actually.

Noah Campbell:

So right now you're inside of the playground which is kind of our tutorial map and that's kind of the way, and that's our very, very, very small first level.

Anthony Godfrey:

Okay.

Noah Campbell:

So that's what's going to kind of teach people like hey this is how you're supposed to like do this, this is how you're supposed to climb. And so you can use the joysticks on your controllers and those will help you look around and move around and stuff like that.

Anthony Godfrey:

Okay, so I have a controller in my left and in my right hand and I'm just using the little joystick. Do you still call it a joystick?

Noah Campbell:

Yeah, you would call it a joystick. Or Joy-Con.

Anthony Godfrey:

Joy-Con. Okay, I'm walking up to the stairs. It's very colorful. I have to describe the scene so there's a big playset kind of like you'd find in a public playground except it's super huge. It's more awesome than any of the ones you'd see in reality. Pink clouds and green grass and a little sandbox and it's all fenced in with a nice white picket fence. I kind of want to go up the blue stairs into the playset. Can I do that?

Noah Campbell:

You can. So if you just walk up to the stairs you'll just automatically move up them.

Anthony Godfrey:

I walk up. Oh, I'm kind of tall. Do I need to duck down to get in?

Noah Campbell:

Yep. So this is one of our things—

Anthony Godfrey:

So I duck down. Alright.

Noah Campbell:

This is one of the things that have been added for the physical activity.

Anthony Godfrey:

Wow.

Noah Campbell:

So it actually requires you to do like actual movements and stuff like that. Like ducking and moving your hands to actually reach them.

Anthony Godfrey:

Okay. Very cool. So I'm going to grab and hold down this button. It's giving me, so I'm now inside the playset and it's giving me instructions on what to do. So let me just say right now that it actually feels like I'm going to walk off the edge of the earth because of the way you have designed this. I'm like, okay, don't fall into the big white nothingness. That's what I start my day with every day. “Don't fall into the big white nothingness.” How do I get back in? I feel like I'm going the wrong way.

Noah Campbell:

Actually, the only way to get back in is to fall off. Just kind of like you would fall in a role game. That will reset you at the beginning.

Anthony Godfrey:

So I have to learn how to fall like I was saying earlier. Okay. Do I just keep walking into the void?

Noah Campbell:

Just keep walking and then you'll drop down from the island and...

Anthony Godfrey:

Honestly, it feels really weird to drop down, to walk out into this void. It's telling me not to. Okay. I think I'm going to stop because otherwise, I'm going to hurt myself or someone near me.

Noah Campbell:

I can take those controllers.

Anthony Godfrey:

The music is really cool too. It's like it has a retro feel but kind of a reassuring feel also which I know is what you're going for. Wow. That is really cool. That is impressive stuff you guys. That was very immersive.

London Baker:

Once you get past the tutorial level, we have the Mushroom Mountain level which has a lot more different climbing things. In that level we have monkey bars and rope, but in the Mushroom Mountain level we also have things like ladders and you can climb into the mushrooms. And there's another level where there's a mountain but then you have to climb like upside down. It's really scary.

Anthony Godfrey:

Can you just get me into that general experience?

Noah Campbell:

I can run to that really quickly. Get to you there.

Anthony Godfrey:

Just run to it really quickly. If you wait for me to be able to find my way, it might take a minute. Talk about what led you to take this class. Now that you've experienced it and you've had this level of success, what do you want to do next?

Josh Copp:

I'm going to keep going to school, college and what not and I'm going to try to get a bachelor's degree in animation. I'm just hoping that I can keep on animating whether that be 2D or 3D.

Anthony Godfrey:

Fantastic. How about you London?

London Baker:

I signed up for Digital Media next year so I'm going to be doing it again. I wanted to do it again because I really like this class and I feel like I've learned a lot and doing it again I'll be able to learn a lot more.

Marissa Pierce:

I think I'm going to keep going to college and then figure things out from there. For sure after taking this class I have figured out what I like to do. So fortunately I'm not planning to be a doctor because I didn't want to. I'm just going to stick to 3D modeling assets, possibly animation, something to do with art, like drawing, but mostly just 3D modeling.

Anthony Godfrey:

So this is something you want to do as a career?

Marissa Pierce:

Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:

Wonderful. How about you Noah?

Noah Campbell:

Sorry.

Anthony Godfrey:

I'm asking this question while Noah is getting me to the magic mushroom.

Noah Campbell:

I’m almost there, I'm on the zip line right now.

Anthony Godfrey:

You need to focus. I don't want you to fall.

Noah Campbell:

You're good. So the reason, what I plan to do after this, I've always been interested in video games. I would love to work in the video game design industry and create entertainment for people. One of the cool things about video games is when you're working in it you're not just working on one specific thing like drawing and stuff like that. You're working on all these different things. Music production, you're working with a team, you're making 3D models, you're making levels, you're designing everything, you got to write documents. And it's a lot of different skills all kind of combined into one. Lots of programming skills, so there's a lot of different stuff that's pretty cool with it.

Anthony Godfrey:

Awesome.

Noah Campbell:

That's kind of my plan after I graduate this year.

Anthony Godfrey:

Let me try it out here.

Noah Campbell:

This is the beginning of the mushroom level. You should be able to see it. And then there's your controller so you can move using the joysticks. Don't fall off the ledge. This one's way different than where you were.

Anthony Godfrey:

Wow, this is cool. Is that kind of a purple ocean beyond the mushrooms?

Noah Campbell:

Yes, it is.

Anthony Godfrey:

Wow. It's kind of an Alice in Wonderland feel. I'm walking up to the big mushroom. Oh, there we go. I got it over the hump. Now I want to climb up. So do I have to put my hands up to climb?

Noah Campbell:

Yep. And you'll just grab on it. You'll have the big mushroom probably right up there. And there's another like a little ladder. And that's just kind of a fun little one leading to a fairy house.

Anthony Godfrey:

I'm not going to make you all wait while I try to climb the ladder. But this looks fantastic. I like the lanterns hanging up throughout, you know? Kind of gives it a mystical feel. Well, this is super cool. I love this level. This looks really… Oh, and I love the prisms or the kind of geodes that are out there. It looks like this could go on forever. And I like the plants that are coming up with the little kind of tendrils. Reality is not going to be quite the same now that I've been in virtual reality.

Well, congratulations on your success. I wish you the best in June at the competition. And thanks for spending time with me. This is really awesome.

Noah Campbell:

Thank you. Our goal is to take 1st and represent Jordan and JATC.

Anthony Godfrey:

Well, good luck to you. Thanks very much. I like your chances.

London Baker:

Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see you out there.