A simple survival game created by Carroll County Middle School student Adam Wentworth has earned him a spot as a semifinalist in the Kentucky Student Technology Leadership Program state competition.
Adam, a fifth grade student, designed and coded the game using Scratch, a block-based coding website that allows students to build programs and games by connecting visual code blocks. His project, titled Adam’s Cool Survival Game: About Survival and Stuff, challenges players to survive as long as possible while fighting off monsters.
“My game is like a simple survival game,” Adam said. “You can go around and fight monsters to get money and experience and get better weapons to fight monsters and what not.”
When the game begins, players see a title screen noting that the project was created for STLP of Kentucky. The game then starts on day one and explains the controls and the main objective: stay alive as long as possible.
“Monsters will spawn, sometimes more frequently on the later days, and you can use the controls to move around and attack them,” Adam said.
As the player progresses through the days, the challenge increases as more monsters appear. Adam said learning how the game mechanics work can help players develop strategies.
“When I’m playing it, I go in, hit and then move away for a second since there is technically a cool down on your attacks,” he said. “I know that’s the best way to do it because if I keep myself within that range while not getting within the range of the monster, I know I’ll live.”
Adam spent about six months developing the game after taking time during STLP meetings to decide what kind of project he wanted to create. One of the biggest challenges, he said, was simply coming up with the idea.
“Coming up with the idea for everything from the actual game itself to any of the things within it would be my biggest challenge because I’m also not very good at brainstorming,” Adam said.
The game features a simple, top-down view that allows players to see their character and enemies from above. Adam said the art style is intentionally basic. He credits some of his inspiration to the game Minecraft and to online creators he watched while learning about game design.
His interest in coding began several years ago when he first experimented with Scratch Junior in elementary school.
“I remember I was allowed to get on Scratch Junior when I had free time,” he said. “It’s a much less complicated version of Scratch and I really liked it.”
Later, he discovered the full version of Scratch after seeing a project online and decided to try it himself.
“I tried it for a bit and the rest is history,” Adam said.
According to STLP coordinator Diane McCarthy, Adam is one of eight semifinalists in his category, which includes students from sixth through eighth grade.
“The project he submitted in January has already passed the first level of judging,” she said. “Now he will make improvements based on the feedback and resubmit it for another review.”
Adam’s current score is 41 out of 50, and there is still an opportunity to improve that score during the next round of judging. If he places first or second at the state level, Adam will be recognized on stage during the STLP State Championship event April 24 at Rupp Arena.
While the competition includes students who are older and more experienced, Adam said he was relieved to learn he would not be competing against high school students.
“My biggest relief was I wouldn’t be facing people older than me who know science, physics and things that can create things I can’t,” he said.
For now, Adam plans to continue improving his game and creating new ones. His Scratch profile already includes several other projects he has made over the past three years.
“I just like making games in it,” he said. “It’s actually pretty simple when you think about it.”