Richland Campus’ team took first place honors in the Interactive Simulation and Game Development category at the SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference in Atlanta June 19-23.
Shaina Albert, Kalyn Duke, Nathan Hawkins, Daniela Maldonado, Angel Ruiz and Jesse Serrano are the team members. However, only Albert and Serrano, who is layout editor of the Chronicle, could go on stage and attend the table where the game was displayed.

“It was a futuristic third person platformer. … You have to fix a mining station. But then it turns out there’s some sort of plot where the facility has been taken over by an evil robot and you have to put a stop to his plan,” Serrano said about the game that the Richland team developed.
Serrano, who is the most experienced member, is the team leader; he created the main character. Other members of the team were in charge of the design and the UI programming. Albert, for example, was in charge of the dialogue.
Although the game won the top prize in the national competition, some of its features need to be polished to reach the quality level the team wants. However, the game is already uploaded at the school website, so people can play it, according to Serrano.
Serrano also said that even though the competition was difficult, he knew since the beginning that his team was the strongest because of their project.
“There was a lot of serendipitous stuff. … We needed someone to do something and then someone showed up. They took up the torch and heroism all around,” Serrano said.
The team was organized by Christopher Curra of the gaming department who knew there was a category in the SkillUSA conference where the Richland team could participate, according to Serrano.
Serrano added that there is a possibility of an international competition, but it’s still in the planning stage.