A group of creative and determined students from iLEAD Academy is turning heads with a video game they designed. After winning first place at both regional and state Technology Student Association (TSA) competitions, the team is now preparing to represent their school on the national stage.
The five-student team of Jason Oliver, Ava Ritchie, Elias Cardoso-Ortiz, Cody Lawson, and Santiago Aldama crafted a construction-themed multiplayer video game that highlights teamwork, strategy, and creative design. What began as a brainstorming session over the competition prompt—a two-to-four player game playable on a single laptop—quickly evolved into a fully functioning, animated platformer.
“We came up with a construction-type game,” explained Jason Oliver, a sophomore who has now earned two first-place finishes with separate projects. “One person buys materials, another builds platforms, and together you have to help each other complete the level.”
The game features a colorful construction site theme and clever mechanics. Players use keyboard controls to move their characters around the map, picking up boxes and buying items to help them cross obstacles. Items like ladders, fans, and trampolines are used to reach the finish line—each one priced differently to encourage strategy and resource management. “You’re working with literal pixels, and you’re making them move,” Jason said. “Elias did an amazing job with the wind animation on the fan. I couldn’t do it, and then he sent me a little video of it and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this works amazing.’”
Elias Cardoso-Ortiz, who led the project and programming, said the gameplay is not timed but gives players a budget to manage. “You start by buying items that arrive at the delivery section and collect boxes, like coins in Mario,” Elias explained. “You use a set amount of money that you start with to buy what you need and place it to traverse the obstacles.”
While the original prompt allowed up to four players, the team decided to stick to two and pass control between players on one computer. “It created a little bit of a challenge,” Jason said, “but it was fun to figure out.” They later implemented three and four-player compatibility.
Ava Ritchie, who led much of the design work, focused on creating backgrounds that reflected different moods while staying true to the construction theme. “We wanted it to feel like a real work site,” she said. Ava used a platform called Piskel to build the visuals, creating the feel of pixel art while adding animations frame by frame. Santiago Aldama also worked on background details and animation using Piskel.
Cody Lawson helped design the game’s item selection and animations. “This game started out really difficult because we had this construction crew idea, and it was hard to pick the right items at first,” Cody said. “But it turned out really good. The judges were really nice at state.” He also pitched in with some of the coding, building on what he learned in last year’s competition.
The entire team contributed across roles, especially during the late stages. “All of us went into each other’s roles a little bit,” Ava said. “Except for Elias’s—he was always in charge of making it actually work.” Elias smiled and said, “I make it work. You guys make it look pretty.”
As they prepare for the national competition, the team is working on adding more features, including a story told through short comic-style scenes between levels. “We’re thinking about something like the manager threatening to fire the two players if they don’t finish the project,” Ava said. “It’ll be like a storyboard that gives players a reason to keep going.”
The game already had over 100 views online even before the state competition, and while they haven’t decided whether to market it, the idea is on the table if things go well at nationals. “We saw some great games at state, and we expect even better ones at nationals,” Elias said.
Jason is hopeful for another win. “I hope we keep our strong record and get first place again,” he said. “We’ve worked really hard on this.”